NEUROSCIENCE 2023 WRAP-UP
By Stefan Friedrich
My favorite trade show of the year quickly came and went. Each year at SfN’s Neuroscience show, we’re struck by the incredible research being done by our customers. The enthusiasm surrounding the latest technology releases, and those highlighted as in-development, is truly infectious; we love engaging with customers and learning more about how we’re helping you all accelerate your discoveries and hit your research goals.
Here are the three topics we spoke about most with researchers during Neuroscience 2023.
1. Modular Insertion System
This year we unveiled the new Modular Insertion System, a new multi-probe insertion system commercially licensed to New Scale Technologies by the Allen Institute for Neural Dynamics. While our existing Multi-Probe Micromanipulator System can practically enable positioning of about 8-probes at once, this new system will enable positioning of up to 25 Neuropixels probes, along with microscope modules for visualization and laser modules for optogenetics. We will have this system commercially available by Neuroscience 2024.
Learn more in our product announcement and stay tuned for more information later this year!
New Scale’s MPM System at Neuroscience 2023
2. Trajectory Planning with New Atlas Visualization Tools
Over the past year, we have been collaborating with some great labs on new trajectory planning tools in development, including Neuropixels Trajectory Explorer (Peters Lab, University of Oxford) and Pinpoint (Virtual Brain Lab at the Steinmetz Lab, University of Washington). Both tools are now compatible with New Scale’s Pathfinder software, allowing you to plan experiments from your desktop. This powerful tool will cut your planning time dramatically, helping you determine precise probe start-stop coordinates, and providing hardware setup parameters to save you from the tedious and time-consuming calculations usually needed to accurately hit target regions of interest within the brain.
Learn more about how MPM Pathfinder Software can simplify the planning, simulation, and execution of neural recording experiments with greater accuracy.
Want to see a live demo? Contact us – we would be happy to set up a virtual meeting!
3. Launch of the Neuropixels 2.0
Of course, there was a lot of buzz around the brand new Neuropixels 2.0 probe, which is smaller, lighter weight, and provides more flexibility than previous probes with both a single- and four-shank versions of the probe.
New Scale has a probe mount available to hold the multi- and single-shank Neuropixels 2.0 probes, and this requires you to use Neuropixels 2.0 probes with the metal dovetail cap.
MPM-Probe Mount-NP2.0 for Neuropixels 2.0 probes.
Technical Review By
Stefan Friedrich
Marketing Manager