The latest version of Scanbox includes two new features requested by users. These appear are small toggle buttons on the left within the Scanner panel. The button on the bottom right of the panel is already known to you — it allows you to toggle between Unidirectional and Bidirectional scanning modes. The letter shown in…
Read MoreMeasuring the resonant frequency
The actual time a line takes to scan depends on the resonant frequency of the mirror. This is typically around 8kHz but it can vary from one device to another. One easy way to measure it is to split the signal that goes from TRIG OUT to the TRIG IN of the Alazartech board and feed…
Read MoreSimultaneous imaging and electrophysiology
Scanbox now allows the possibility of doing simultaneous imaging and electrophysiology. An external DAQ device, supported by Matlab’s data acquisition toolbox, is need to do this. In our case, we had an old NI-USB-6221 lying around that we decided to use. In the present case, we set things up to do patch-clamp recordings from a single…
Read MoreMeet Knobby
Knobby is finally here! Knobby provides an alternative to the 3D mouse interface for controlling the position of the microscope. Knobby offers simultaneous control of all axes of the microscope by independent knobs (X, Y, Z and objective angle, A) and is very responsive to the user movements producing nice, smooth motion. The position control…
Read MoreLeaked pictures show knobby is almost ready
Leaked pictures surfaced on-line this past Friday indicating that the much anticipated release of Knobby is expected very soon. One Scanbox user that preferred not to give his name welcomed the news: “Finally, as someone trained in patch clamp, I never liked the 3D mouse. Turning heavy knobs that move smoothly… yes, that feels different!” The new…
Read MoreAdding an SLM path for optogenetics
As promised, there has been some progress in adding an SLM path for optogenetics to the microscope and things are looking good… We are now calling on potential users to provide input into the features that they would need/want in a GUI interface, as this may impact how useful this addition will be to our own…
Read MoreTTL synchronization
The simplest way to synchronize external stimulation with the microscope data collection is for the user to generate a TTL signal that is HIGH when the stimulus is on and LOW when it is off. This signal should be split and connected to the TTL1 input of Scanbox and the AUX1 input of the Alazartech card…
Read MoreVerify the trigger!
You may encounter a situation where shortly after focusing and/or grabbing Scanbox quits and asks you to “verify the trigger”. If this happens proceed as follows: First, if you hear the resonant mirror starting to work (meaning you hear the 8khz tone) when you press focus or grab, skip to the next step below. Otherwise, make sure…
Read MoreUsing the quadrature encoder to track locomotion
Scanbox allows you to acquire the position of a rotating platform at each frame of the microscope. To do so, you need a quadrature encoder to be mounted on the axis of your platform. We use the US Digital HS-360-IE-S, but any quadrature encoder will do as well. The encoder needs to be wired to an Arduino…
Read MoreHappy new year to Scanbox users everywhere!
Happy new year to the growing list of Scanbox/NLW users everywhere! Wishing you all a productive imaging year!
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