“These miniature microscopes have been increasingly used to study the neural basis of behavior in freely moving animals,” said the study’s senior author, Emily Gibson, Ph.D., associate professor of biomedical engineering at CU Anschutz. “This new microscope allows deeper penetration and higher-resolution images of the brain. Importantly, it can also excite select neurons using optogenetics.”

The study was published in the journal Optica.

A microscope that can do both

The new device, Opto2P-FCM, combines high-resolution brain imaging with targeted light-based stimulation in a lightweight, head-mounted microscope. Unlike previous miniature imaging systems, the new technology enables researchers to both monitor and manipulate the activity of specific neurons at the same time, providing an unprecedented view of how neural circuits function.