Centro de Investigaciones en Optica A. C. View Institution's Website 2 articles published in JoVE Neuroscience Label-Free Non-Linear Optics for the Study of Tubulin-Dependent Defects in Central Myelin Valeria Piazza1, Milvia Alata1, Victor H. Hernandez2, José R. Eguibar3,4, Carmen Cortes3 1Centro de Investigaciones en Óptica A.C. (CIO), 2Division of Sciences and Engineering, Department of Chemical, Electronic, and Biomedical Engineering, Universidad de Guanajuato, 3Institute of Physiology, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, 4Dirección General de Desarrollo Internacional, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla In this article, we present a protocol to detect microtubule-loaded oligodendrocytes in a model of tubulinopathy through a simple, innovative second harmonic generation microscopy approach. Bioengineering Gold Nanostar Synthesis with a Silver Seed Mediated Growth Method Zurab Kereselidze1, Victor H. Romero2, Xomalin G. Peralta1, Fidel Santamaria3 1Department of Physics and Astronomy, The University of Texas at San Antonio, 2Centro de Investigaciones en Optica A. C., 3Department of Biology and Neurosciences Institute, The University of Texas at San Antonio We synthesized star shaped gold nanostars using a silver seed mediated growth method. The diameter of the nanostars ranges from 200 to 300 nm and the number of tips vary from 7 to 10. The nanoparticles have a broad surface plasmon resonance mode centered in the near infrared.