Blackrock Microsystems, the industry leader in neuroscience research equipment, today announced partnerships with two neuroscience research firms -- Germany-based PhenoSys and Israel-based NAN Instruments -- that will create a truly comprehensive set of tools for neuroscience researchers that facilitate faster and more cost-effective research.
Blackrock Microsystems will incorporate specific technologies from PhenoSys and NAN Instruments to offer a fully integrated suite of electrophysiology research products.
"Our partnerships with PhenoSys and NAN instruments will fundamentally change the way neuroscientists work, so that regardless of the experiment the researcher dreams up, we can now empower them to perform it," said Andy Gotshalk, CEO of Blackrock Microsystems.
"Neuroscience research is often encumbered by mix-and-match components and complicated experiment setups. These partnerships will lessen time-consuming, expensive barriers and expedite research results so that we can achieve our ultimate objective of transferring those results into clinical practice for the millions of people facing devastating neurophysiologic challenges."
Blackrock Microsystems’ miniaturized electrodes and amplifiers, and its robust data acquisition platform empower researchers to perform experiments on nearly unencumbered subjects, thus yielding a clearer look into the brain’s natural architecture.
PhenoSys’ technology allows researchers to construct virtual-reality mazes, where scientists can implement impromptu changes to experiments, leading to significant savings of both time and money. Prior to this technology researchers spent hours constructing physical mazes and other research settings.
"Our virtual-reality technology is already transforming neuroscience research," said York Winter, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of PhenoSys, and professor of cognitive neurobiology at Humboldt University in Berlin. "By teaming up with Blackrock Microsystems, we’ll be able to help even more scientists conduct experiments that were previously thought impossible."
NAN Instruments designs and manufactures the only electrode positioning system capable of moving individual electrodes fractions of a millimeter in a three-dimensional space. With this technology, neuroscientists can distinguish between neuron groups that were previously inseparable.