SfN 2019: Moving into Non-Human Primates

Each year, more than 30,000 brain researchers come together at the Society for Neuroscience (SfN) annual meeting to present their latest research. 2012 was our first year at SfN, where we launched our very first product-–nVistaᵀᴹ–-a miniature microscope-based system to map brain circuit activity at single-cell resolution in thousands of neurons in naturally behaving rodents. We have made major strides since then.

Today, there are 1000+ Inscopix systems that have been placed at over 400 laboratories across the globe. These scientists, our customer base, have published over 80 scientific papers in top-tier journals, advancing a deep mechanistic understanding of the brain in health and disease. This year alone, our platform has helped enable at least 60 scientific presentations at the 2019 SfN meeting – including our own R&D team’s first demonstration of nVista in awake, behaving rhesus macaque, a non-human primate (NHP) model.

The expansion of the Inscopix miniature microscope platform to NHP models is a significant milestone in our goal to accelerate advances in brain science and to make an impact on human brain health. There is little doubt that the study of simpler mammalian nervous systems, such as rodents, has yielded tremendous insight into the neural basis of rudimentary brain functions. However, for high-level perceptual and cognitive functions, it is often problematic to study complex mental functions (and dysfunctions) in these simpler animal models.

Historically, the rhesus macaque has been the animal model of choice to study human-relevant brain functions. Macaques are evolutionarily and genetically closer to humans than rodents, as macaque and human brains share major anatomical similarities, especially in higher-order brain areas sub-serving complex cognition. In addition, a large number of studies have documented similar behavioral patterns between macaques and humans in tests of perception, memory, attention and decision-making. With this advance in the macaque model, we believe that Inscopix can empower translationally oriented researchers across the spectrum, whether their ultimate objective is to develop a drug or a brain-computer interface, to catalyze breakthrough treatments for a wide range of neurological and psychiatric conditions.

If you are going to be at SfN 2019, come see Inscopix’s senior lead scientist, Jonathan Nassi, Ph.D., present this major advance in NHP platform development.

Head mounted microendoscopic calcium imaging in deep layer premotor cortex of behaving rhesus macaque
Room S106
October 22, 2019 from 2:00 to 2:15 p.m. CDT

Head mounted microendoscopic calcium imaging in deep layer premotor cortex of behaving rhesus macaque
Room S106
October 22, 2019 from 2:00 to 2:15 p.m. CDT

We hope to see you in Chicago this weekend, and look forward to participating in what is bound to be a thoroughly stimulating week with our neuroscience community!

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