Optogenetics

Optogenetics is a biological technique used to characterize and manipulate the activity of neurons or other cell types with light. This is achieved by expression of light-sensitive ion channels, pumps or enzymes in the target brain cells. A specialization of this field is nano-optogenetics.

On the level of individual cells, light-activated enzymes and transcription factors allow precise control of biochemical signaling pathways. In systems neuroscience, the ability to control the activity of a genetically defined set of neurons has been used to understand their contribution to decision making, learning, fear memory, mating, addiction, feeding, and locomotion. In a medical application of optogenetic technology, vision was partially restored in a blind patient with retinitis pigmentosa.

Beyond individual cells, optogenetic techniques have been introduced to map the functional connectivity of the brain. By altering the activity of neurons and recording the activity of other cells using imaging and electrophysiology techniques, researchers can identify the statistical dependencies between cells and brain regions. In a broader sense, the field of optogenetics also includes methods to record cellular activity with genetically encoded indicators.