Peter Shizgal lab tour

Three undergraduate students, Alexandra Yaksich, Pavel Solis, and Diana Sarghi, hard at work in the data-analysis room.

Alex carrying out a histological staining procedure.

Setup for optical and/or electrical self-stimulation. Output from a 473 nm laser is routed through an optical rotary joint to custom-fabricated path cords. A small ceramic sleeve (not shown) connects the end of the patch cord to a ferrule in the rat’s head cap. The laser illumination can activate neurons expressing the excitatory opsin, channelrhodopsin2.

At the optical-fiber bench. A spool of optical fiber is illuminated with 532 nm laser output, which can be used to activate silencing opsins such as eNpHR3.0, Arch or ArchT.

Ivan Trujillo-Pisanty, a PhD student, at the optical-fiber bench. He designs and builds patch cords and implants for his optogenetic experiments, based on prior work by Dennis Sparta and Garret Stuber at the University of North Carolina.

Marie-Pierre Cossette, a PhD student, setting up an experiment employing optogenetic stimulation of ventral-midbrain dopamine neurons and monitoring of dopamine release by means of fast-scan cyclic voltammetry.

Alex and Pavel preparing leads for experiments on the rewarding effect of electrical brain stimulation in rats.