Cleaning Patch Pipettes Enables Fully Automated Neuroscience 300 x 300

Cleaning Patch Pipettes Enables Fully Automated Neuroscience

Cleaning Patch Pipettes Enables Fully Automated Neuroscience
Whole-cell patch clamp is one of the most sensitive techniques in all of neuroscience. This technology has enabled wide ranging discoveries, such as measurements of single ion channels in neurons and the recording of electrically active cells in the living brain. However, it takes a lot of skill and time to perform – neuroscientists can train for months to get proficient at it. One of the goals of the Precision Biosystems lab is to automate this important technique, and to that end, we have discovered that cleaning the sensitive glass pipettes is possible, enabling fully automated neuroscience. Check out the video below to see our robot in action, patching away on some HEK 293 cells.


We describe this technique in a recent article in Scientific Reports.

Legendary Graduation Cap Wall 300

Legendary Graduation Cap Wall

Legendary Graduation Cap Wall

A unique tradition of the Precision Biosystems Laboratory is decorating a graduation cap and wagon geared towards the research and hobbies of each graduate. Immediatley after sucessfully defending their thesis, the recent graduate is given their decorated graduation gown, and told to sit in their graduation wagon so that Craig can pull them around campus to celebrate Georgia Tech’s latest PhD. Each graduate’s hat is perched on a wall near the graduate offices to celebrate their succes in the lab. Some hat examples include Dr. Caitlin Austin’s bacterial communication hat, Dr. William Stoy’s neuron motion compenstaion hat, and Dr. Suhasa Kodandaramiah’s in vivo patch clamp hat. Soon, a new wall needs to be reserved as the current wall is filling up!

Lab Jiu Jitsu Reunion in Ashburn, VA 300

Lab Jiu Jitsu Reunion in Ashburn, VA

Lab Jiu Jitsu Reunion in Ashburn, VA

Former lab members Ilya and Will met up with Colby and Mighten this summer in Asburn, VA to hang out and even did a little jiu jitsu. Ilya (post-doc) and Mighten (visiting summer graduate student) were at Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Will just started his post-doc at Columbia University, and Colby was completing his 3rd summer at the National Institutes of Health.

Congrats Dr. Timothy Lee 300

Congrats Dr. Timothy Lee

Congrats Dr. Timothy LeeDr. Timothy Lee successfully defended his thesis this summer. His thesis focused on automating the collection of serial nano-sections sections used to image and analyze up to 1 cubic milimieter of tissue!

Aditi and SmartSoil Team Win Spring 2019 Capstone Design Expo 300

Aditi and SmartSoil Team Win Spring 2019 Capstone Design Expo

Aditi and SmartSoil Team Win Spring 2019 Capstone Design Expo

Out of 236 teams from 11 different schools, this year’s best overall project award was awarded to Adid Kumar and the SmartSoil team! The team developed an indoor and user-friendly composting device that uses worms to naturally create nuitrient rich compost (called vermicomposting). The team used old food waste to feed the worms and create usable compost in just two weeks; producing 50x high-quality fertilizer per year when compared with its closest competitor. Learn more about the 2019 Spring Capstone projects at https://www.me.gatech.edu/2019_Spring_Capstone.

Timothy Lee Wins Nerem Travel Award 300

Timothy Lee Wins Nerem Travel Award

Timothy Lee Wins Nerem Travel Award

Tim recently won the 2019 Nerem International Travel Award, created by the friends and colleagues of the founding director of the Petit Institute, Bob Nerem, to honor his career in bioengineering. The annual award of up to $3,000 supports travel and living expenses for post-docs and graduate students traveling outside of the US as a part of their research training. Learn more here.

Once Again, the Fastest Lab at Georgia Tech is the Precision Biosystems Labratory 300

Once Again, the Fastest Lab at Georgia Tech is the Precision Biosystems Labratory

Once Again, the Fastest Lab at Georgia Tech is the Precision Biosystems Labratory

Once again, the Precision Biosystems Labratory were the fastest Faculty/Staff group in the annual Georgia Tech Pi Mile Race! The group celebrated their winnings this year with a nice group dinner at JCT. Kitchen & Bar.

Create X logo

Timothy Lee and Craig Forest Win Curriculum Innovation Award for Create-X Capstone

Timothy Lee and Craig Forest Win Curriculum Innovation Award for Create-X CapstoneAs members of the CREATE-X team, Craig and Tim contributed to establishing a program that teaches Georgia Tech students how to launch start-ups through classes taken for college credit. They have helped launch over 115 start-ups in the past five years! The CREATE-X team won the Curriculum Innovation Award in 2019, an award that recognizes faculty who are improving the quality of education at Georgia Tech through pedagogical and curricular innovation. Find out more about the Curriculum Innovation Award here.

Congrats Dr. William Stoy

Congrats Dr. William Stoy

Congrats Dr. William StoyDr. William Stoy successfully defended his thesis this Winter. His thesis focused on how to increase yields of deep brain, in vivo patch clamp recordings by detecting and dodging large obsticles and compensating for the neuron motion caused by the mouse’s heart beat and breathing.

Miniature Patch Clamp Amplifier Chip wins NIH SBIR 300 sq

Miniature Patch Clamp Amplifier Chip wins NIH SBIR

Miniature Patch Clamp Amplifier Chip wins NIH SBIR
Congratulations to our collaborator, Reid Harrison, and Intan Technologies, for the success of a $1 Million NIH SBIR through 2017! Intan and the Precision Biosystems Lab will be developing and testing a custom microchip amplifier for patch clamp electrophysiology recording for low-cost, highly multiplexed whole cell recordings in vitro and in vivo!