The Two-Photon Imaging Center was established in 2010 in the Institute of Experimental Medicine of Hungarian Academy of Sciences in order to perform simultaneous 3D network and dendritic measurements in vivo and in vitro.  

Our work focuses on:
- design of unique fast 3D microscope techniques for dendritic and simultaneous network  imaging in large volume using organic dyes and genetically  encoded sensors (GCaMP6).
- measurement of dendritic computation during synchronous network activities such as sharp-wave ripple activity
- studying dendritic integration in interneurons
- development of novel two-photon uncaging techniques and compounds (caged GABA, glutamate, serotonin, dopamine…)
- 3D-AO imaging of dendritic computation in awake animals

We would like to understand the complex spatiotemporal dynamic of large neuronal networks in in vivo conditions in large 3D volumes during complex behavioral tasks. We address for example the following questions: What is the relevant information in a neuronal population activity pattern during different visual tasks? While information coding is highly variable during successive repeats? Our second main research topic is to understand the dendritic mechanisms underlying cell assembly activities. How dendritic hot-spots activity and plasticity is related to the network population pattern.

For further information, please see also: http://twophotonimaging.eu/index.php?cont=home

5 Selected Publications

Katona G., Szalay G., Maak P., Kaszas A., Veress M., Hillier D., Chiovini B., Vizi ES., Roska B., Rozsa B. (2012) Fast two-photon in vivo imaging with three-dimensional random-access scanning in large tissue volumes. Nat. Methods, 9 (2) : 201-8.

Holderith N., Lorincz A., Katona G., Rózsa B., Kulik A., Watanabe M., Nusser Z. (2012) Release probability of hippocampal glutamatergic terminals scales with the size of the active zone. Nat. Neurosci., 15 (7) : 988–97.

Katona G., Kaszás A., Turi GF., Hájos N., Tamás G., Vizi ES., Rózsa B. (2011) Roller coaster scanning reveals spontaneous triggering of dendritic spikes in CA1 interneurons. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 108 (5) :2148-53.

Chiovini B., Turi GF., Katona G., Kaszás A., Erdélyi F., Szabó G., Monyer H., Csákányi A., Vizi ES., Rózsa B. (2010) Enhanced dendritic action potential backpropagation in parvalbumin-positive basket cells during sharp wave activity. Neurochem. Res., 35 (12) : 2086-95.

Rózsa B., Katona G., Kaszás A., Szipöcs R., Vizi ES. (2008) Dendritic nicotinic receptors modulate backpropagating action potentials and long-term plasticity of interneurons. Eur. J Neurosci., 27 (2) : 364-77.

Awards, Fellowships and Honours

2012            National InnovationAward
2007            National Junior Prima Primissima Prize
2005            1st award of the Young Scientist Award of the Hungarian Society for Experimental and Clinical Pharmacology
                    Awards from Eötvös Loránd and Semmelweis Universities (Physics, Analysis, Chemistry) including Rector grant

• Fast three-dimensional two-photon imaging in in vivo
• Electrophysiology in vivo and in vitro
• Dendritic integration in vivo and in vitro
• Neuronal network imaging
• Non-linear optics
• Laserphysics
• Laser scanning 
• IT, electric engineering, optical and mechanical engineering