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SUMMARY:Tools for Analyzing and Repairing Biological Systems - Professor E
 d Boyden\, MIT
DTSTART:20200804T140000Z
DTEND:20200804T160000Z
UID:TALK150166@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Bram Lim
DESCRIPTION:Registration: https://forms.gle/y4aHE6cxcZmAzpXJ8\n\nThis talk
  is open to all including non-members\, subjected to availability. Please 
 register by Sunday 02 August to receive the link for the online lecture.\n
 \n*Abstract:* \n\nTo enable the understanding and repair of complex biolog
 ical systems\, such as the brain\, we are creating novel optical tools tha
 t enable molecular-resolution maps of such systems\, as well as technologi
 es for observing and controlling high-speed physiological dynamics in such
  systems.  First\, we have developed a method for imaging specimens with n
 anoscale precision\, by embedding them in a swellable polymer\, homogenizi
 ng their mechanical properties\, and exposing them to water – which caus
 es them to expand manyfold isotropically. This method\, which we call expa
 nsion microscopy (ExM)\, enables ordinary microscopes to do nanoscale imag
 ing\, in a multiplexed fashion – important\, for example\, for brain map
 ping.  Second\, we have developed a set of genetically-encoded reagents\, 
 known as optogenetic tools\, that when expressed in specific neurons\, ena
 ble their electrical activities to be precisely driven or silenced in resp
 onse to millisecond timescale pulses of light.  Finally\, we are designing
 \, and evolving\, novel reagents\, such as fluorescent voltage indicators 
 and somatically targeted calcium indicators\, to enable the imaging of fas
 t physiological processes in 3-D with millisecond precision.  In this way 
 we aim to enable the systematic mapping\, control\, and dynamical observat
 ion of complex biological systems like the brain.\n\n*Speaker profile:*\n\
 nProfessor Ed Boyden is the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT
 \, an investigator of the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and the MIT McGo
 vern Institute\, and professor of Brain and Cognitive Sciences\, Media Art
 s and Sciences\, and Biological Engineering at MIT. Prof Boyden received h
 is PhD in neurosciences from Stanford University as a Hertz Fellow\, worki
 ng in the labs of Jennifer Raymond and Richard Tsien\, where he discovered
  the molecular mechanisms used to store a memory are determined by the con
 tent to be learned. In parallel to his PhD\, as an independent side projec
 t\, he co-invented optogenetic control of neurons\, which is now used thro
 ughout neuroscience. Prof Boyden has received numerous awards and accolade
 s for his immense contribution to neural science and bioengineering\, incl
 uding the Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences (2016)\, the Croonian Medal 
 (2019) and the Wilhelm Exner Medal (2020). He now leads the Synthetic Neur
 obiology Group\, which develops tools for analyzing and repairing complex 
 biological systems such as the brain. These technologies include expansion
  microscopy and optogenetic tools\, which he will share during his talk.\n
LOCATION:Google Meets
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