ORGANISMS INVESTIGATED:

Mice, rats, guinea pigs, cats & humans (EEG & anatomy)

RECORDING METHODS:

Macroelectrode registration:

Cochlear microphonics, summating potentials, compound action potentials, brainstem response audiometry, electromyography; Electroencephalographic recordings with low-impedance electrodes and a high-density human EEG system (128 channels, BrainAmps)

Microelectrode registration:

High-density microelectrode recordings (up to 1024 electrodes). Multiunit & local field potentials registration with microelectrode arrays, single cell registration using glass microelectrodes of high impedance.

STIMULATION:

Auditory, visual & somatosensory stimulation, cochlear implant stimulation, laser stimulation; calibration of acoustic equipment

DATA ANALYSIS:

Recoding signal conditioning, unit activity analysis including spike sorting, peristimulus time analysis, interval histogram analysis, synchronization analysis (to stimulus and between recording sites), spike-field coherence, connectivity analysis (phase relation, Granger causality, transfer entropy), frequency analysis of local field potentials (Fourier & wavelet), PCA & ICA, current source density analysis and many more.

In human EEG we additionally localize brain source of neuronal activity using different approaches, including sLORETA and beam forming.

HISTOLOGY:

Flourescence digital microscopy, confocal microscopy and STED microscopy; Histological processing of nervous tissue and the cochlea, including standard staining techniques (Nissl, Golgi, COX), use of fluorescent tracers (DiI, DiO, fluoro ruby, fluoro emerald, diamino yelow) and immunohistochemistry (SMI-32, GFAP, parvalbumin). In vivo µCT (XtremeCT, Scanco Medical). 3D reconstructions using data obtained from serial sections, µCT imaging or grinding (using Amira and MatLab).