The NEW nVista 2P miniscope leverages two-photon technology to capture neural circuit activity at higher resolution and deeper tissue levels than one-photon methods, all during freely behaving tasks.
With over ten years of experience designing miniscopes, Inscopix has created a portable system with a 2.2-gram miniature microscope. With the added advantages of two-photon optics, this high-performance fluorescence imaging solution allows researchers to target every area of a rodent's brain using the same methods as one-photon experiments.
Only nVista 2P delivers:
- Over time, improved cell identification and registration through higher resolution
- Workflows that are optimized and integrated with the Inscopix software and lens ecosystem
- Complete assistance, including grant submission, data analysis, and experiment design
Innovative design
With a weight of just 2.2 grams, the nVista 2P system features Inscopix's smallest miniscope. Free-behaving experiments are made possible by its special lightweight and balanced footprint, which preserves the animal's capacity to interact with its surroundings.
Researchers have the utmost flexibility and convenience of bringing the instrumentation straight to their experimental setups, thanks to the nVista 2P hardware's seamless integration into a creatively designed mobile workstation.
The entire system consists of a:
- Fully integrated platform: nVista 2P is a two-photon imaging solution with a computer, DAQ, and laser.
- Mobile workstation: This ergonomic cart is simple to assemble and move to the experiment.
- nVista 2P miniscope camera: The lightest and smallest two-photon imaging miniscope camera on the market.
Image Credit: Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology
Enhanced behavior studies
The behavioral studies will benefit from the advantages of two-photon optics with this new miniscope design. Conventional benchtop systems frequently require workarounds to replicate particular behaviors, like ball running and joystick, which can result in unrealistic behaviors and require extensive training.
The nVista 2P solution makes compromise-free two-photon freely-behaving experiments possible. When combined with the Inscopix nVision behavior recording system, researchers can link neural activity more closely to natural behaviors such as socialization and place preference.
Image Credit: Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology
Complete ecosystem
The nVista 2P miniscope is the newest addition to Inscopix’s comprehensive end-to-end ecosystem, seamlessly integrating multi-dimensional data acquisition and analysis into a unified workflow.
The nVista 2P workflow is designed to maximize imaging success by utilizing Inscopix's entire suite of innovations, including the ProView Express Kit and ready-to-image (RTI) viruses, which streamline surgical workflows and downstream data analysis via the popular Inscopix Data Exploration, Analysis, and Sharing (IDEAS) platform.
With comprehensive tools and top-tier scientific support for data collection, analysis, and grant submission, the end-to-end Inscopix environment speeds up the process of great science.
Image Credit: Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology
Software
Inscopix Data Acquisition Software
From setup to acquisition, experiments can be streamlined with the help of the user-friendly interface of the Inscopix Data Acquisition Software (IDAS). IDAS gives neuroscientists the ability to:
- Manage every facet of their nVista 2P data collection
- Preview results to keep an eye on data collection
- Create detailed metadata to facilitate downstream analysis
- Configure behavior acquisition (using nVision) and use TTL communications to manage external device initialization and synchronization.
Image Credit: Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology
Inscopix data exploration, analysis, and sharing
IDEAS is a robust platform that uses cloud infrastructure to speed up computation and organize big datasets. It has been tuned to:
- Easily transfer and arrange data
- Repeat processes for various users
- Process data in batches
- Share it with partners
The IDEAS platform supports widely used analysis tools in two-photon microscopy, such as Caiman, suite2p, CNMF, CNMFe, and PCA-ICA, to analyze data obtained with nVista 2P.
Thanks to the tools in IDEAS, which are created and maintained by Inscopix and the scientific community, users can concentrate on their experiments without having to write code.
Image Credit: Bruker Nano Surfaces and Metrology