Re-engineered optogenetic switches allow direct measurement of complex cellular systems
Monday, December 17, 2012 - 13:01
in Biology & Nature
A Harvard University chemical biology lab has re-engineered optogenetic switches, photosensitive proteins called rhodopsins inserted into mammalian cells to control electrical firing, so that the switches run backward, firing off bursts of fluorescent light that reveal newly detailed patterns of electrical activity in neural networks, beating cardiac cells and developing embryos, according to a Dec. 17 presentation at the American Society for Cell Biology Annual Meeting in San Francisco.