Retroviruses can infect actively dividing neural progenitor cells in the hippocampus and spare non-dividing cells such as mature neurons. With this tool we can selectively label newly born neurons. We can infect neuronal precursor cells at various stages in development and look at a neuron’s morphology at certain ages. This…
We demo’d an Olympus FV1200 confocal microscope, which I used to acquire these images of a couple interneurons, labelled with GFP. The video was made with Imaris, which offers some cool moviemaking features that you won’t find in your standard confocal software. BEST VIEWED IN HD!!!
Now that I have something to show for it, let this be a formal announcement that I’ve returned to Toronto to join Paul Frankland’s lab (and therefore the larger Josselyn-Frankland group). I’ve always liked their work and one of the techniques I’m excited to learn is the use of viruses to…
Most studies of adult neurogenesis are concerned with neuronal age. Or at least they should be. This is because new neurons develop from a stage where they have no excitatory synapses to one where they have many. If we assume the traditional view that information is stored at excitatory synaptic…