Re-Engineered Optogenetic Switches Allow Direct Measurement Of
Complex Cellular SystemsMain Category: Biology / Biochemistry
Also Included In: Medical Devices / Diagnostics Article Date: 24
Dec 2012 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. Adam Cohen, PhD, said that optogenetic switches were
pioneered in 2005 by Stanford University neuroscientist Karl
Deisseroth, MD, Phd, in mammalian neurons, using light as a
remote controller to turn them on or off. Rhodopsin switches
have since allowed researchers to gain optical control over the
electrical state and thereby the