Spatially Precise Optogenetics at Depth Incubator Meeting Cracking Neural Circuits with Structured Illumination & Ultrafast Imaging in the Intact Brain   8-10 December 2013 ● OSA Headquarters ● Washington, D.C.   HOSTS: Hillel Adesnik, University of California, Berkeley, United States Shy Shoham, Technion - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel Laura Waller, University of California, Berkeley, United States

 

Topic Overview

Although optogenetics is revolutionizing how neuroscientists investigate nervous system function, few studies have taken advantage of precise spatial illumination to manipulate neural activity at the resolution of single cells or local microcircuits. Advances in multi-photon structured illumination, ultrafast imaging and micron scale light sources promise to open up a whole new field of investigation into the basic operation of neural circuits. This Incubator Meeting focused on the development of optical approaches that will radically improve the spatial and temporal resolution with which we can manipulate and monitor neural activity optogenetically.
 

Goal

The goal of the meeting was to bring together neuroscientists, engineers, and industry representatives that would not normally interact but are nevertheless experts in structured illumination, high-speed multi-photon imaging, optogenetic investigation of neural circuits, and computational optical approaches. With a major goal of the BRAIN Initiative to comprehensively image and manipulate neural activity on a massive scale but with cellular resolution, participants of this meeting will not only present their recent advances, but also discuss the major outstanding challenges in this field and how to surmount these challenges to develop the necessary technologies that will unlock fundamental aspects of brain function and disease.
 

Scope and Featured Topics

Optogenetics – sensitizing neurons to light genetically – is rapidly altering how scientists reveal the basic operation of the brain circuits that are central to sensation, action, and cognition. The vast majority of optogenetic studies to date have primarily capitalized on the genetic side of optogenetics taking advantage of the specificity of gene expression to control and image unique cell types and connections in the brain. However, precise spatial control of the illuminating light affords an additional dimension of specificity that has been underutilized, partly owing to the challenges posed by the scattering properties of brain tissue. Recent and future work in multi-photon imaging and structured illumination, combined with alternative approaches – such as micron scale, implantable illumination devices – promise to open up whole new avenues of research to understand the elementary basis of neural computation, sensory coding, and neural defects in brain diseases such as autism, schizophrenia, epilepsy, and other disorders.

Three main focus areas for this meeting:

• Structured illumination to optogenetically control neural activity precisely in space and time
• Ultrafast imaging to reconstruct patterns of neural activity with millisecond precision in large volumes of brain tissue
• Local implantable illumination devices, to control neural activity at brain depths beyond the limits of multi-photon microscopy

 

Meeting Agenda

 

Sponsor

 

Attendees [as of 12-05-13]

Hillel Adesnik, University of California, Berkley, United States; Marco Arrigoni, Coherent, Inc., United States; Lahsen Assoufid, Argonne National Laboratory, United States; Thomas Bifano, Boston University, United States; Serena Bovetti, Italian Institute of Technology, Italy; Elizabeth Carroll, University of California, Berkley, United States; James Cotton, Baylor College of Medicine, United States; Meng Cui, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm, United States; Hod Dana, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm, United States; Marcos Dantus, Michigan State University, United States; Shyamsunder Erramilli, Boston University, United States; Elizabeth Hillman, Columbia University, United States; Karl Kilborn, Intelligent Imaging Innovations, Inc., United States; Prem Kumar, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, United States; Rich Lepkowicz, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, United States; Guoqiang Li, Ohio State University, United States; Evan Lyall, University of California, Berkley, United States; Keith Mathieson, University of Strathclyde, United Kingdom; Jordan McCall, Washington University School of Medicine, United States; Jerome Mertz, Boston University, United States; Darwin Palima, DTU Fotonik, Denmark; Francesco Pavone, Instituto Nazionale di Ottica, Italy; Simon Peron, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Janelia Farm, United States; Darcy Peterka, Columbia University, United States; Rafael Piestun, University of Colorado, Boulder, United States; Sean Quirin, MITRE Corporation, United States; Matthew Roos, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, United States; Peter Saggau, Baylor College of Medicine, United States; Shy Shoham, Technion  - Israel Institute of Technology, Israel; Daniel Smalley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States; Harbaljit Sohal, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States; Lei Tian, University of California, Berkley, United States; Joshua Trachtenberg, University of California, Los Angeles, United States; Sanjay Varma, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, United States; Alipasha Vaziri, University of Vienna, Max F. Perutz Laboratories, Austria; Laura Waller, University of California, Berkley, USA; Ru Wang, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States; Chris Xu, Cornell University, United States; Anthony Nicholas Zorzos, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, United States