Shamma, Kanold receive DURIP award for advanced imaging technology

Professor Shihab Shamma and ISR-affiliated Assistant Professor Patrick Kanold (Biology) have been awarded a $355,000 Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) grant from the Air Force Office of Scientific Research (AFOSR).

The grant will be used to acquire advanced imaging technology to monitor the functional responses of thousands of neurons with high accuracy. It will allow the researchers to address the fundamental question of how large ensembles of neurons respond to various complex stimuli and how changing environmental conditions change the neuronal representation of the external world.

The advanced instrumentation consists of a laser scanning 2-photon system, that coupled with a microscope, allows the simultaneous monitoring of neuronal activity in vivo from an area of at least 0.5x0.5 mm which contains thousands of neurons over long periods of time.

Published May 1, 2008