Sensory & Neuroendocrine Physiology - Techniques
The training of graduate students involves the entire range of laboratory-oriented instruction including a wide variety of laboratory techniques, design and execution of hypothesis-driven experiments using animals, data analysis and figure generation, and manuscript production and publication. Laboratory techniques include various anatomical methods (microsurgery, immunohistochemistry), electrophysiological recording methods (field potential, voltage-clamp, and patch clamp recording), dynamic imaging using confocal laser microscopy, and behavioral assays. Furthermore, students are trained in modern approaches in bioinformatics, including the use of public gene databases and a basic knowledge in computer programming.
Mentoring of graduate students (predoctoral; Bachelor, Master and PhD) and occasionally some postdoctoral fellows involves tasks that range from (1) consultation, (2) counseling, (3) helping to setup presentations for journal clubs or scientific meetings, to (4) private tutoring.
Check out the laboratory tool box!
Photopharmacology (in combination with electrophysiology or confocal microscopy)
Electrophyisology
(incl. whole-cell, voltage-clamp, current-clamp, single-channel, perforated patch, loose-patch, cell-attached, field potential recordings);
Tissue preparation and tissue culture (acute slices of brain or olfactory tissue, dissociated neurons, explant cultures, organotypic slices, cell lines)
Live cell imaging (incl. confocal and two-photon imaging)
In vivo surgery models (incl. injections, lesions, transplants)
Sperm cryopreservation, In vitro fertilization
Behavioral assays (Morris Water Maze; resident-intruder assay, social defeat, Bruce effect, ....)
Histology (incl. immunohistochemistry, neuroanatomy)
Collaborative studies involving molecular biology (incl. in situ hybridization, gene analysis)
Physiology
The department of Physiology promotes the study of the molecular basis of cell function to the integrated behavior of the whole body. We also train the next generation of medical doctors and scientists by fostering excellence in teaching and research.
Neuroscience
Neuroscience encompasses the various scientific disciplines dealing with structure, development, function, chemistry, pharmacology, and pathology of the nervous system. Using the olfactory system as a model we investigate the molecular and cellular events mediating mammalian communication at the level of recognition and detection of specific signaling molecules to processing of these signals in the brain.