Hannover 2016 – scientific programme

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SYBO: Symposium Biomedical Optics

SYBO 2: Symposium Biomedical Optics 2

SYBO 2.4: Invited Talk

Thursday, March 3, 2016, 16:00–16:30, e415

Optogenetics: Lighting Up the Brain — •Gero Miesenboeck — Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University of Oxford, United Kingdom

An emerging set of methods enables an experimental dialogue with biological systems composed of many interacting cell types*in particular, with neural circuits in the brain. These methods are called *optogenetic* because they employ light-responsive proteins (*opto-*) encoded in DNA (*-genetic*). Optogenetic devices can be introduced into tissues or whole organisms by genetic manipulation and be expressed in anatomically or functionally defined groups of cells. In a decade and a half, optogenetic control has developed from a far-fetched idea to a widely used technique. My talk will illustrate how this happened, drawing on the earliest and latest results from my lab.