For Potential Trainees
Why electrophysiology?

The cells of the nervous system, neurons, communicate with each other via electrochemical signalling. Thus, to monitor cell-to-cell signalling in the nervous system, one must study electrical or chemical events. Measurements of electrical events usually have a much better temporal resolution.

The techniques of electrophysiology can provide a millisecond-by-millisecond report of the events that take place in a single protein, nerve cell, or group of nerve cells. In fact, electrophysiology has provided the only real-time assessment of the activity of single proteins (ion channel proteins).

The product of the nervous system is behavior. As you realize when you leap to catch a baseball or play Fur Elise on piano, behavioral changes can and sometimes must occur very quickly. Thus, the underlying mechanisms of behavior must also change quickly. We use the powerful techniques of electrophysiology to understand the mechanisms of behavior in real-time as they effect changes in neural circuits and behavior.