I
began researching in the Neural Engineering lab this past summer, from May to
August. I knew going into my sophomore year that I wanted to get involved in
research on campus, especially hearing from friends who were involved or who
had been involved about how much of a learning experience it is. After reaching
out to a lot of different labs and narrowing down my interests, I chose to do
research in this lab, and pursue the topic of Random Electrical Stimulation in Cortical Networks on Multielectrode
Arrays for my OSCAR URSP research.
This
topic interested me for a couple of reasons, because as a university student,
one rarely gets the chance to use the knowledge and fundamentals learned in
class in the real world to truly understand the scope of information. After
working in the lab over the summer, learning the procedures, techniques and
locations of all of the lab equipment, I was able to begin determining what
topic I was interested in researching. Research also provides unparalleled
levels of curiosity and questioning, which I feel is necessary regardless of
discipline or major.
My
research involves taking recordings of the activity of cortical cell cultures
from mice embryos and looking at patterns these cultures exhibit when
electrical stimulation is added. The recordings involve a system of devices,
including a Multi Channel Systems temperature controller, power supply system,
baseplate, and stimulation generator alongside special software that transmits
information about the neuronal cell culture and any electrical stimulation.
This software produces real-time results that show different locations on a
multielectrode array where a neuron is producing an action potential, or the
means of communication for the cells in our brain.
Every
week provides new discoveries, and this week I did a lot of data processing for
data I had collected a few months ago. This data revealed insightful
information about how electrical stimulation can increase the number of action
potentials over time and helped me refine my procedure for conducting the
recordings when I realized there were some mistakes or missing data.
