Funding agencies want to see it in your grants and top tier journals require it for publication. Most neuroscientists acknowledge that they will need to combine multiple techniques to thoroughly address their research questions but getting multiple systems to work together can be a slow and painful process for some labs. Plexon helps customers address integration in several ways.

The most straight forward solution to integration is using Plexon equipment that is designed to work seamlessly together. For example, Plexon customers can easily combine electrophysiology, behavioral tracking, and optogenetics into one cohesive experiment with neural data time synchronized with behavioral events and optogenetic stimulation triggered by neural or behavioral events. However, Plexon also helps customers integrate Plexon equipment with other third-party equipment.

Many Plexon customers are using Med Associates chambers in their labs. Conversations with these customers has led to the development of custom cables that allow researchers to connect Med Associates chambers to Plexon equipment. Recently, a lab wanted to use a Med Associates chamber, with two levers and a reward receptacle, and PlexBright to trigger optogenetic stimulation after an animal made an entry into the reward receptacle. The physical entry into the reward receptacle breaks a beam that is detected by the Med Associates chamber. Plexon created a custom cable that connects to the Med Associates Superport card and sends the information to the digital inputs on the 4-channel controller of the PlexBright system to stimulate (or pause) LED activity. The opto-stimulation will then occur every time the animal makes a correct response and enters the reward receptacle.

For this lab, the custom designed cable easily integrates lever press behavior and optogenetics. Plexon has helped many other labs with different variations of integration including integrating Med Associates chambers with electrophysiology. Contact us to tell us more about your experimental design or the unreasonable request from reviewer number 2 and our sales engineers will work with you to find a way to efficiently combine multiple techniques.