Meet co-founded and engineer Greg Gage as he tours his facility and explains his neuroscience research. Some details about Backyard Brains and their mission: As grad students at the University of Michigan, co-founders Tim and Greg often interacted with schoolchildren during neuroscience outreach events. We often wanted to show real "spiking" activity to students, but this was impossible due to the high cost of equipment. By using off-the-shelf electronics, we designed kits that could provide insight into the inner workings of the nervous system.Our first product, the Spikerbox, uses invertebrates to help you learn about how the cells in the brain work to communicate. We also have an Muscle SpikerBox that you can use to record electrical activity produced by cells in human muscles. If the science behind these products appeals to you, you should also check out the Completo, which is a full tabletop, portable electrophysiology rig. All of our products are accompanied with Lesson Plans and Experiments to make learning (and teaching) neuroscience a breeze.
