The field of optogenetics, which allows researchers to use light to control neurons, was sparked ten years ago with a technique discovered by Karl Deisseroth and Ed Boyden. An article in BioTechniques marks this anniversary and features the work of Janelia group leader Marta Zlatic.
This emerging field has the potential help researchers understand the brain in new ways. For example, Zlatic’s work could allow us to “understand how neurons that control a specific action are interconnected with each other and with other neurons and how their activity patterns are really correlated, [which will allow us to] mechanistically explain the circuit motifs by which a nervous system generates action.”
BioTechniques also profiles the work of Janelia group leader Vivek Jayaraman's team, who “expressed a Chrimson variant in flies and showed they could activate sweet taste receptors, which induce the animal to extend its proboscis” and group leader, Gwyneth Card, who used that same variant to study escape strategies in the fly.
Read the full article from BioTechniques
Read more about Marta Zlatic's research