#NeuroConCiencia| Controlling neuronal activity with light: from individual cells to brain waves

• Speakers: Dr. Pau Gorostiza, ICREA research professor at the Institut de Bioenginyeria de Catalunya (IBEC).

Language: english

Abstract

The large number of photoswitchable drugs discovered and developed in recent years covers a great variety of cellular functions like catalysis of metabolic processes, cytoskeletal polymerization and motors, nucleic acids dynamics, intracellular signaling and perhaps most dazzlingly membrane excitability, which has been at the focus of photopharmacology and optogenetics. The dream of precisely and remotely photocontrolling every aspect of the cell's workings in intact tissue appears within reach and offers the promise of interrogating complex cellular processes to discover their molecular mechanisms. Recent and ongoing projects at IBEC focused on photopharmacology will be reviewed, including the development and applications of photoswitchable ligands of ion channels and receptors to control neuronal excitation and inhibition with light. These molecular tools allow spatiotemporal control of endogenous proteins at multiple scales, from subcellular compartments to emerging cortical waves in the brain.

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