Masa, Entry#3, Surgery!

I am pleased to report that it has been lovely working at the Hussaini lab as I am about to enter my 5th week here. While my project has remained the same, we have started to implant the microdrives I made during my first weeks here into the mice. Apparently if exciting data is discovered on a mouse using my microdrive I will be acknowledged in the paper!

Although I was not able to do the implanting myself due to the rigorous and tedious training process required by the university, I did observe the procedure as my post grad explained what was going on. Even if I was given permission, I don't know if I could bear the responsibility of drilling and cutting into a live mouse, knowing that the slightest mistake could cause it to bleed out and die.

After being initially anesthetized in a gas chamber of sorts, the mouse is shaved and clamped to the table, with a pipe attached to its mouth pumping in more gas to ensure it stays asleep. The skin on the brain is cut with a scalpel and kept out of the way using clips, while a chemical is used to clean off the fats above the skull. After a couple holes are drilled into the skull so the cement which is later applied will tightly glue the microdrive to the skull, the mouse must be prepared for the actually insertion of the microdrive device. Because the mouse brain is so small, it must be perfectly flat before the hole for the tetrodes is drilled. By comparing the heights of different brain landmarks using a measuring device, the clamps are then adjusted accordingly. Finally, using the coordinates for the lateral entorhinal cortex, the hole is drilled and the microdrive is inserted and secured onto the mouse using cement. I was surprised to find out that the skin would not be sutured shut, and that the mouse would just live with the cement covering its head until the experiment was over.

Outside the lab, I have been having a great time in New York. With the Euros on every day I am never bored, even on weekends. Its been truly exciting to spend a summer in the city that never sleeps.