Open-source miniature brain microscope | Hacker News Reader

Open-source miniature brain microscope

norwegianscitechnews.com

26 pointsgeox7 comments

FYI, similar technology is already mature and commercially available, e.g., through Inscopix (no affiliation): https://www.inscopix.com/nvista Looks like the innovation here is getting reliable and lightweight two-photon recordings (allowing more cells and multiplane acquisitions) while the animal is moving around. Still very cool!

And responding to the other commenters, no, this kind of technology is definitely not (and never will be) a toy...

Nice, but extremely expensive and out of reach of hobbyists.

I downloaded the PDF and went to the links, but I did not find easy pricing. Is it somewhere I am missing on the site? How expensive is it?

Side joke: For hobby stuff, I jokingly price a new endeavor in the number of Starbuck's tall lattes, which I don't drink, but is handy for my acquaintances who say they don't have the money for hobby projects, and then proceed to buy 2 or 3 of these a day at $3 or more a pop ($180/month based on 20 working days - I allow for weekend indulgences!).

Yes, I think it is missing, but they have links to the places where you can buy the stuff. However, on some of those links you will have to request a quote. I suspect if you add it all up, you are talking about a few $100k.

Maybe I am reading it wrongly, but you also need genetically modified mice, and is it actually closed skull or open skull? I mean if you want to see the brain photons, it is most likely open skull. Dont do that at home.

Nobody said you have to use it for the intended purpose. This is Hacker News :)

From the paper's methods section: "...then the scalp was resected to expose the entire dorsal surface of the skull."

I imagine the open-source idea is that other research groups can build a two-photon miniscope on their own. I agree, I really don't think this is amenable to hobbyists.

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