HSCI Technology Series: "All-optical electrophysiology"

Date: 

Thursday, November 13, 2014, 12:00pm to 1:00pm

Location: 

Harvard University, Sherman-Fairchild 261, 7 Divinity Ave., Cambridge, MA

Guest presenters:
Adam Cohen, PhD
Professor and Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator
Departments of Chemistry and Chemical Biology and of Physics
and

Daniel Hochbaum, PhD
Postdoctoral Fellow
Cohen Lab
Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology

Abstract:
We recently developed a technology for probing the electrophysiology of cells using light-alone.  A blue light-activated ion channel triggers membrane depolarizations, while a red light-activated fluorescent voltage indicator protein reports the response.  We developed instrumentation for delivering arbitrarily complex patterns of blue light stimulation and for imaging the response with high resolution in space and time, over a large field of view.  We will discuss recent applications of "Optopatch" across many cell types: primary DRG and central neurons, hiPSC-derived neurons and cardiomyocytes, and several cell-based disease models.  A Cre-dependent transgenic mouse enables expression of the Optopatch genes in any tissue.  We will discuss the technical limitations and the infrastructure needed to use the technology.