Research

The Department of Neurobiology focuses especially on the neurobiology of diseases affecting the central nervous system (CNS), development of disease models and cellular signal transduction. Director of the Department is Professor Heikki Tanila and Vice Director  is Professor Michael Courtney.

The Department houses seven (7) research groups:

• Biomedical NMR, led by Professor Olli Gröhn
• Cell Biology, led by Professor Rashid Giniatullin
• Epilepsy Research, led by Professor Asla Pitkänen
• Functional Genomics and Bioinformatics, led by Professor Garry Wong
• Molecular Brain Research, led by Professor Jari Koistinaho
• Molecular Signalling, led by Professor Michael Courtney
• Neurobiology of Memory, led by Professor Heikki Tanila

The Department is responsible for the following core facilities of the Institute:

• Electrophysiological laboratory for intra and extracellular recordings in vivo and in vitro, and equipment for behavioural studies
• Morphometry unit
• Video EEG recording units (2) for longterm monitoring of rats and mice
• Functional genomics and bioinformatics core unit
• A cellular imaging unit

The electrophysiological laboratory houses instruments for intra and extracellular recordings in vivo and in vitro, and equipment for behavioural studies and equipment for both tethered and telemetric field potential recording in behaving animals.

The morphometry unit has a full arsenal of microscopes for qualitative and quantitative analysis, including 3D reconstruction of single neurons and stereology system for unbiased estimation of cell numbers.

Video EEG recording units provide a unique possibility for simultaneous longterm video EEG monitoring of behavior and electroencephalogram of both rats and mice (up to 16 at a time). Facility has been used, for example, in the analysis of transgenic animals as well as in studies, in which video EEG monitoring has been combined with MRI followup.

Functional genomics and bioinformatics core unit supplies practical support, training, and consultation for DNA microarray methods and data analysis. The core also helps to procure and/or maintain microarrary research equipment and materials on campus: ScanArray 5000 instrument, Affymetrix Genechip scanner and hybridization station, Genespring analysis software, Research Genetics Human library.