DeepBrainLab
Animals come first
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We adore all rats, both the clever ones and those a bit less so. Rats are remarkable, intelligent, and highly adaptable mammals with rich behaviors and unique personalities, just like us. That's why we are committed to providing them with a safe, predictable, and enriched environment where they can thrive.
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We take every precaution to create a friendly environment and ensure the animals' well-being throughout the entire process. Our studies are conducted under strict ethical guidelines and control of accredited ethical committees. We carefully follow these guidelines to ensure that the animals are treated with the utmost care and respect throughout the process. At the end of the day, they are our cherished companions.
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Brain implants involve a minor surgery from which rats quickly recover, much like humans with implants like Utah Arrays by Blackrock Neurotech or Neuralink devices. They soon adapt to the headgear without bother. With over 20 years of experience, we specialize in crafting durable, minimally invasive implants.
Brain Implants and Electrophysiology
We specialize in single-unit recordings in freely moving rats (1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,11). We are proficient in using practically all types of electrodes available on the market. Our expertise ranges from monopolar tungsten electrode arrays (8) and tetrodes (3,4,5,6,7) to silicon probes (2), including Neuropixels (1,12,13) as well as custom electrode designs, such as new biocompatible, perforated polyimide platforms (9,10,11). We have experience with both tethered and wireless systems. So far, we have mainly used these methods to investigate spatial memory, learning, and auditory responses in both cortical and subcortical structures. Building on this experience, at DeepBrainLab, we will use the most suitable methods to study memory in the current Polonez Bis 3-funded project.
Head direction cell recorded in the nucleus reuniens of the thalamus. The spiking activity of the cell is audible (spikes above the threshold are generating the sound). Reference: https://elifesciences.org/articles/03075
The firing field of this place cell is located in the upper right corner of the experimental arena. The spiking activity of the cell is audible with characteristic for theta modulated cells bursts of activity (spikes above the threshold generate sounds).
Behavior
We specialize in training rats in behavioral tasks that are more complex than usual, using custom-built setups (1). Our focus is on appetitive instrumental conditioning. In the project funded by the Polonez Bis 3 program, we will introduce a new setup for testing spatial memory of rats.
The details of the task can be found in our article: An automated, low-latency environment for studying the neural basis of behavior in freely moving rats.
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The details of the task can be found in our article: An automated, low-latency environment for studying the neural basis of behavior in freely moving rats.
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Deep Brain Stimulation
Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) is a potent method that we have previously employed to modify rat behavior by inducing feeding in satiated rats (1) and various other behavioral responses. Additionally, we have explored the effects of this stimulation on the immune system. In our Polonez Bis 3-funded project, we will strive to modulate memory using this method.
The LED in the lower right corner will indicate current flow as rectangular impulses visible on the oscilloscope screen with a frequency of 50Hz. The satiated rat starts eating within 3 seconds of the LED lighting up and stops immediately when the current is turned off.
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https://www.jpp.krakow.pl/journal/archive/08_07_s3/pdf/63_08_07_s3_article.pdf
Focus on Brain-Machine Interfaces (BMI)
DeepBrainLab will aim to integrate single-unit recordings, deep brain stimulation, and behavior analysis to develop clinically relevant closed-loop brain-machine interfaces.