The Laboratory for Neurophysics is a common initiative of CIMeC and the Department of Physics with the objective of applying methodology and techniques of physics to problems in neuroscience. It will be hosted in the new CIMeC building at the Manifattura in Rovereto.
The core facility is a multi-photon in-vivo imaging platform developed at the Nonlinear Bioimaging Laboratory, a technique allowing for non-invasive structural and functional measurements in small animal models at different scales: from macroscopic pictures of the brain morphology to highly resolved images of neuron populations, single neurons, and even subcellular structures. In vivo mapping of brain activity is implemented via calcium imaging techniques at high temporal resolution. Single action potential resolution will be feasible after a future extension of the system, as well as combination of optical imaging with different measurement techniques like electrophysiology.
Research activity of the laboratory is concentrated on information coding and processing mechanisms in the brain and their learning-associated changes. A promising model studied in this context is the olfactory pathway in the honeybee.