CSHL Press News

Cutting-edge imaging techniques for neuroscientists available in third volume of laboratory manual series

06/13/2011

COLD SPRING HARBOR, N.Y. (June 13, 2011) – Neuroscientists have long pioneered the use of new visualization techniques. Imaging in Neuroscience: A Laboratory Manual continues that tradition by presenting an outstanding collection of methods for visualizing the nervous system. It is the third volume in a series of imaging manuals published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press.

"This series of manuals originated in the Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory course on Imaging Structure and Function of the Nervous System, taught continuously since 1991," notes Rafael Yuste, the Series Editor. "Since its inception, the course quickly became a "watering hole" for the imaging community and especially for neuroscientists and cellular and developmental neurobiologists, who are traditionally always open to microscopy approaches."

In recent years, the ability to directly observe neural events at various spatial and temporal scales has enormously expanded because of the development of new imaging technologies and novel functional indicators. This manual provides the foundational methods for imaging nervous system cells and presents the latest techniques for visualizing cells, synapses, neuromolecules, circuits, and brain function in health and disease.

The manual is organized into eight sections that are roughly ordered according to spatial level of neural organization. Section 1 introduces molecular tools for labeling receptors and cells and for optical readout and control of neural activity. In Section 2 these tools are applied to the study of axonal propagation of excitation and synaptic transmission. Section 3 focuses on the integration of synaptic inputs in neuronal dendrites. Sections 4 and 5 provide tools for investigating functional properties of neurons and neural circuits in brain slice preparations (in vitro) and in living animals (in vivo), respectively. Section 6 looks at the dynamic properties of various glial cells, an important area of neuroscience. Section 7 presents new methods for performing high-resolution imaging studies of the brain during behavior. Finally, Section 8 provides examples of imaging studies in various animal models of disease.

This new manual is the third volume in the imaging series that began with Imaging: A Laboratory Manual (www.cshlpress.com/link/imagingp.htm), released last November, followed by Imaging in Developmental Biology: A Laboratory Manual (www.cshlpress.com/link/imagingdevbiop.htm), released in January 2011. The series audience includes students and researchers interested in imaging in neuroscience, developmental biology, or cell biology. These manuals are designed for use at the bench. Thus, they include fundamental background information, detailed protocols clearly presented, and, most importantly, they pass along the tidbits of technical knowledge that make a particular technique or an experiment work.

Edited by Fritjof Helmchen (Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Switzerland) and Arthur Konnerth (Institute for Neurosciences, Technical University, Munich, Germany), each of the 92 chapters was written by leading neuroscientists who are experts in imaging. An accompanying website, cshprotocols.org/imaging, features 9 movies of results obtained using procedures described in the manual.

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Contact: Robert Redmond
[email protected]
516-422-4101

About the book:
Imaging in Neuroscience: A Laboratory Manual was edited by Fritjof Helmchen (Brain Research Institute, University of Zurich, Switzerland) and Arthur Konnerth (Institute for Neurosciences, Technical University, Munich, Germany); the series editor is Rafael Yuste (Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Columbia University). The book is published by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press (� 2011; 1084 pp., 8 1/2" � 10 7/8") and is available in paperback (ISBN�978-0-879699-38-3) and in hardcover (ISBN�978-0-879699-37-6). For more information, see http://www.cshlpress.com/link/imagingneurop.htm.

About Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press:
Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press is an internationally renowned publisher of books, journals, and electronic media, located on Long Island, New York. Since 1933, it has furthered the advance and spread of scientific knowledge in all areas of genetics and molecular biology, including cancer biology, plant science, bioinformatics, and neurobiology. It is a division of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, an innovator in life science research and the education of scientists, students, and the public. For more information, visit www.cshlpress.com.



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