Kartik is presenting on 'optical techniques and VLSI systems for structural and functional brain imaging'.
See you all there!
Abstract: optical techniques for investigating the brain offer several key strengths - non-contact, minimally invasive, multi-scale (single cells to populations), functional/structural observation. currently, most small animal imaging is restricted to restrained &/or anesthetized animals. electrophysiology in awake, behaving rodents has led to many interesting behavioral results, but imaging in a similar scenario has not been explored well. i've been working on designing miniaturized optical imaging systems that incorporate illumination, optics and image sensing electronics in a small volume device that can be mounted on a rodent for chronic imaging in awake and behaving animals. i'll talk about the design and characterization of the imaging system and the image sensor and some preliminary experiments in rats.
