When you would have to move your patch-clamp lab in a new-to-be-built lab, how would you take action to minimize noise levels later on during measurements?
So for example, how can you make sure the PCR machine or freezer in the lab next door does not cause noise in your setup?
I guess an independent fuse box is the minimum. But what else? Hoping for some answers without losing me in too technical jargon :-)
There are those who take fancy precautions, like enclosing their experiment rooms in Faraday cages, or planting dedicated copper stakes for grounding in their basements. In my opinion, that isn't really necessary. I think it is most practical to just set the rig up, and de-noise using standard methods. The basic idea is to tie every piece of equipment to a common ground, avoiding ground loops. For example, if the air table serves as the common ground, then all devices ground to that, not to each other. We do use Faraday cages to shield our in vivo and in vitro rigs. They help a lot. It takes fiddling. Best of luck.
-Matthew
I agree with the advice offered by Matthew Xu-Friedman. Take the standard precautions (buy or construct a Faraday cage, avoid ground loops) and take the standard actions (ground equipment one by one when searching for sources of noise). But wait on the fancy stuff (driving a big metal stake into the earth with your own hands!) until all else fails. Probably the fancy stuff won't be necessary. 😊
Hello, I also agree with the previous answers. I have built up several patch clamp setups during the last 30 years. In old buildings, there was necessary to build and independent ground for your lab, as Niraj said, driving a big metal stake into the earth with your own hands!. However, in new modern buildings with modern electrical installations it is not necessary anymore. The only mandatory precautions are connect each device to a common ground and the use of a Faraday cage.
Good luck.
I also agreed with Niraj Desai and Matthew Xu-Friedman answers. I have built up new patch-clamp setups with around 20-50pA noise levels. It is necessary to have an independent ground for your electrophysiology laboratory. Put a big metal stake into the earth with your own hands! as suggested by others. good luck
Last 20 or so years i have used sheets of ‘kingspan’ insulation to build cages. Takes about ten minutes to set up using a sharp knife and tape. Other than excellent shielding it has the great advantage of also preventing air currents reaching the rig and if you do imaging, adding a front cover gives you total blackout eithout switching off the room lights .
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