Event:

Optogenetic methods have revolutionized neuroscience in recent years. Optogenetic tools for modulation of neuronal activity allow refined perturbation of neural circuits in vivo and enable the inference of causality between the activity of neural circuit elements and behavior. The rapid growth of this field has generated numerous tools and potential applications, but has also created new challenges in tool selection, experimental design and potential caveats which need to be recognized and addressed.

This lecture series will provide a basic introduction into the optogenetic toolbox and a thorough discussion of the range of available tools and approaches, experiment design, and potential drawbacks. In the final meeting, students will prepare a brief presentation describing a published study of interest, or of their own project, followed by group discussion.

Limited to 15 students / postdocs