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SUMMARY:Molecular Tools for Imaging and Controlling Complex Biological Sys
 tems - Prof Ed Boyden\, MIT
DTSTART:20210216T140000Z
DTEND:20210216T150000Z
UID:TALK156136@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:David Madden
DESCRIPTION:Understanding and repairing complex biological systems\, such 
 as the brain\, requires technologies for systematically observing and cont
 rolling these systems.  We are discovering new molecular principles that e
 nable such technologies.  \n\nFor example\, we discovered that one can phy
 sically magnify biological specimens by synthesizing dense networks of swe
 llable polymer throughout them\, and then chemically processing the specim
 ens to isotropically swell them.  This method\, which we call expansion mi
 croscopy\, enables ordinary microscopes to do nanoimaging – important fo
 r mapping the brain across scales.  Expansion of biomolecules away from ea
 ch other also decrowds them\, enabling previously invisible nanostructures
  to be labeled and seen.  \n\nAs a second example\, we discovered that mic
 robial opsins\, genetically expressed in neurons\, could enable their elec
 trical activities to be precisely controlled in response to light.  These 
 molecules\, now called optogenetic tools\, enable causal assessment of how
  neurons contribute to behaviors and pathological states\, and are yieldin
 g insights into new treatment strategies for brain diseases.  \n\nFinally\
 , we are developing\, using new strategies such as robotic directed evolut
 ion\, fluorescent reporters that enable the precision measurement of signa
 ls such as voltage and calcium.  By fusing such reporters to self-assembli
 ng peptides\, they can be stably clustered within cells at random points\,
  distant enough to be resolved by a microscope\, but close enough to spati
 ally sample the relevant biology. Such clusters\, which we call signaling 
 reporter islands (SiRIs)\, permit many fluorescent reporters to be used wi
 thin a single cell\, to simultaneously reveal relationships between differ
 ent signals.  \n\nWe share all these tools freely\, and aim to integrate t
 he use of these tools so as to enable comprehensive understandings of neur
 al circuits.
LOCATION:via zoom - please contact David Madden for the zoom link
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