NEW 3-D IMAGING MICROSCOPE TO RECORD NEURONAL ACTIVITY
To understand the root of the problem of these latter diseases, visualizing brain 
activity is key. But even the best imaging devices available — fMRIs and PET scans — can only give a “coarse” picture of brain activity.
UCLA neuroscientists have now collaborated with physicists to develop a non-invasive, ultra–high-speed microscope that can record in real time the firing of thousands of individual neurons in the brain as they communicate, or miscommunicate, with each other.
“In our view, this is the world’s fastest two-photon excitation microscope for three-dimensional imaging in vivo,” said UCLA physics professor Katsushi Arisaka, who designed the new optical imaging system with UCLA assistant professor of neurology and neurobiology Dr. Carlos Portera-Cailliau and colleagues.