Electronics Facility – Electrochemistry Hardware
Specialty Electrochemical Instrumentation can be purchased from the UNC Electronics Facility. These instruments are specifically designed for performing various types of Fast Scan Cyclic Voltammetry in freely moving or anesthetized animals, in tissue slices, or simply in “beaker” experiments.
Three main instruments are offered, but many options and modifications are also available. All of these instruments operate with the HDCV Acquisition and Analysis Programs which can be licensed free of charge . UEI instruments have been provided to laboratories worldwide. Please contact Collin McKinney for price lists and information.
Universal Electrochemistry Instrument – UEI
This is a mainframe-based instrument that is customizable by the customer. It can be configured to provide up to four channels of Fast Scan Cyclic Voltammetry, FSCV, and two channels of simultaneous Electrophysiological measurements, EPhys. It interfaces with Med Associates experiment controllers through an 8-bit Superport and it also interfaces with Plexon neurophysiology instrumentation. A wide variety of headstages are offered for in-vivo and ex-vivo measurements. A minimal system consists of a mainframe, power supply, breakout box, ramp filter plug-in, headstage controller, and a headstage.
Mini-UEI
This is a simpler instrument that allows the user to perform FSCV experiments without the capability of performing EPhys measurements. It also utilizes the HDCV software, but does not require a breakout box. It does, however, support the Med Associates Superport. It requires a headstage to form a complete measurement system.
Multi-Purpose Instrument
This instrument is intended for benchtop FSCV-only experiments. It does not utilize either a breakout box or a headstage. Instead of the fixed-gain headstages used with the UEI systems, this unit provides a built-in headstage with computer adjustable gain settings. This unit is ideal for bench experiments or for teaching students about CV and FSCV.
UEI Ancillary Equipment
Other equipment available that interfaces with the UEI system are:
- Specialized or custom headstages for bench, tissue, or behaving animal use.
- Multi-electrode systems.
- Iontophoresis pumps for injection of small amounts of neuro-active compounds directly into tissue.
- Commutators, also known as “Swivels,” used in experiments with behaving animals.
- Flow cell systems for calibrating electrodes.
- Video character generators for annotating real time videos of behavior during experiments.
- Custom systems for real-time, multi-parameter measurements, for example simultaneous FSCV, EPhys, and patch-clamp.
Customers
College of Korean Medicine
Columbia Unversity
Duke University
Emory University
Hanyang University
Hertie Institute, University of Tuebingen, Germany
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
IBM T.J. Watson Research Center
Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia, Portugal
Korea Institute of Science and Technology
Kuvempa University, India
Lawrence Livermore National Labs
Mayo Clinic
McGill University, Canada
Medical College of Wisconsin
Medical University of South Carolina
Medical University of Vienna
Merck, Inc.
MIT
National Institutes of Health, NIDA
North Carolina State University
Northwestern University
Pennsylvania State University
Polish Academy of Science, Institute of Pharmacology
Roanoke College
Stanford University
SUNY Buffalo
Targacept, Inc.
Universidade Federal do Parana, Brasil
University of Colorado, Boulder
University of Gothenburg
University of Kansas
University of Maryland
University of Minnesota
University of Notre Dame
University of Pittsburgh
University of Texas Health Science Center
University of Virginia
University of Washington
Vanderbilt University
Wake Forest Medical Center
Wayne State University
Yale University