High-Resolution Microscopy in the Brain

The goal of the Dept. for Biomedical Optics is the development of novel methods to better understand computation in the brain. There are two main lines of attack: measuring activity and reconstructing circuits. Fast information transmission in the brain is mediated mainly by neuronal processes, called axons, only which electrochemical excitation actively propagates. Along those axons we find in a more or less regular pattern special cellular organelles, which are able to connect to neighboring neuronal processes (dendrites) and thus allow the transmission of information to those cells.