Sunday dinner at Diego and Elaine's cottage

Wine and astronomy with Rodolfo Llinas

On Saturday evening we  had clear skies, so Rodolfo Llinas very kindly invited us to his house to drink wine (out of Lord of the Rings pewter goblets!) and look through his telescope.  Look up through a telescope vs. down through a microscope stimulated some interesting discussions which will likely be revisited throughout the summer.

We (Yuyu, Alberto, Chris, Rebecca, Tim, Alex behind camera) arrived a bit early so the sun was still setting. Apparently to the chagrin of the neighbors, the rotating observatory for the telescope can be seen on the top of the house. 

Spectacular sunset over Buzzard's Bay, seen out of the observatory's sliding door

The interior was lit exclusively with red lights so that our vision remained dark-adapted

Mobile phone picture of the moon's surface

Professor Llinas himself at one part of the "rig"

Minor acquisition software grief...this time with the single photon camera

At 23 million light years away, the Whirlpool Galaxy prompted some existential vertigo

TIM FOR THE WIN!!!

Tim's doing ephys work looking at the effects of perineuronal nets on the remarkably fast spiking properties of auditory brainstem neurons.  Action shots from the lab below:

Making mouse brain slices just a few hundred microns thick allows visually targeted recordings. The machine is like a tiny deli meat slicer with a vibrating blade; the brain is chilled first to minimize cell death.

Brain slices rest comfortably in oxygenated artificial cerebrospinal fluid to allow neurons to recover and damaged tissue to slough off for better recordings.

Slice in place, ready for recording using a patch clamp electrode.  To keep the slice alive, the ACSF bath is constantly circulated and reoxygenated. 

Tim and Yeowool plus rig

Something can be seen...perhaps cerebellum?

After the traditional inaugural wrestling with the acquisition software, a first patch, break in, and whole cell recording!  Where ever the neuron may be, it appears to have at least passive membrane properties.  And perhaps receives inhibitory input?

BUT WAIT!!! Via the magic of sodium channel deinactivation and post inhibitory rebound, we see a regenerative depolarization of some kind!  It's official...Tim has recorded the first action potential of the summer.  

Sadly, we had not firmly established a prize for first recording, so eternal fame via this widely read blog will have to suffice as a reward.

Cats on beams

The new ability to menace and howl from above means unprecedented psychological empowerment for Sticklet and the Baby Snack.

We fear that the human-feline power dynamic will never be the same.

Yuyu's squid

Loligo pealei

A celebrated patron of neuroscience (and fine cuisine)

Addendum to Alberto's Sunday Dinner 

Grass dinner squid prep 2014 in the red pan

 Grass squidlets 2014 with lemon zest and fresh basil

this retrospection from 2006 shows Alberto's lab squid preparation, as fresh as squid can be -- note: red pan (upper right) is still used for tasty squid preps in 2014

Dinner at Alberto's place

  The traditional Sunday evening dinner series was started by Alberto. And he set a very high standard...