Biophysical Society Thematic Meeting - June 28-July 1, 2015

New Biological Frontiers Illuminated by Molecular Sensors and Actuators

Wednesday Speaker Abstracts

Novel Fibreoptics Probes for in vivo Optogenetics: From Single Cells to Hard-to-Get-to Areas of the Nervous System Yves De Koninck . Laval University, Quebec, Canada. The future of neuroscience lies in our ability to assess, in a context sensitive manner, how each component of the enormously complex nervous system integrates, processes and transfers neurochemical information. Although colossal advances in understanding cell signalling events have been made using ex vivo preparations, the highly reactive and plastic brain imposes in vivo studies to assess their relevance to normal function and pathology. Thus, the true enabling discovery technologies will be those that bridge single cell molecular signalling studies with whole animal physiological and behavioural assessments. The recent advent of photoactivatable proteins to generate novel sensors and actuators open new arrays of possibilities on this front. Yet, harnessing their full potential remains limited by properties of light such as diffraction, absorption and scattering which restrict resolution and depth of observation/intervention. Our ability to probe and control cellular and molecular events across the length and time scales relevant to brain functions (from millisecond to hours and days) in vivo hinges on the development of novel techniques to deliver light and measure events with extreme sensitivity and precision. I will describe recent developments we have made to enable single cell signalling and electrophysiology studies in deep brain structures with a micro-optrode that not only enables combined electrical and optical Ca 2+ measurements from single neurons but also probing intrinsic membrane properties optogenetically. I will also describe novel fibreoptics geometries that enable light deliveries and collection in configurations that enable probing structures that would otherwise not be accessible, including approaches such as panoramic confocal imaging and epidural optogenetics.

Chemical Biology Sensors for Membrane Curvature and Lipid Composition Hang Yin . University of Colorado Boulder, Boulder, USA. See abstract: Pos-52 Board 52

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