The pond scum that changed neuroscience
Splicing the switch into the brain
Turning neurons on and off
Healing minds and mapping thoughts
YOUR GOAL
Master of How to switch a brain on with a flashlight
diego Chlamydomonas reinhardtii
Green pond algae has a light-switch key, shining blue beams to make the brain fire away!
diego Neurons communicate using electrical impulses, which are naturally triggered by chemical signals.
diego Light-gated ion channels are microscopic molecular doors that open only when hit by specific light colors.
diego Zap pond scum with light to discover how algae proteins help scientists control brain cells.
Algae eyes: Pond algae use the exact same light-sensing chemical, retinal, that human eyes use to see.
A light-gated ion channel protein that serves as a sensory photoreceptor in unicellular green algae. In 2004, Ed Boyden at Stanford first used this algal protein to control mammalian neurons with light.
How fast does channelrhodopsin open its channel once hit by the correct light wavelength?
diego A midnight email sparked Karl Deisseroth and Ed Boyden's brain-control experiment.
In what year did researchers first successfully express channelrhodopsin in mammalian neurons?
diego The single-celled green alga Chlamydomonas reinhardtii navigates using a light-sensitive eye.
Which organism provided the first light-sensitive channelrhodopsin protein used in optogenetics?
What biological structure do ion channels span to control the flow of charged particles?
What is the primary chemical used by both human eyes and algal light-gates to sense light?