Optogenetics: Molecular and Optical Tools for Controlling Life with Light

Abstract

Optogenetic tools are genetically-encoded reagents that, when targeted to specific brain cells, enable their activity to be controlled by light. These tools are having broad impact on science, and may serve clinical roles as well. 150-word Biography: Ed Boyden is Associate Professor of Biological Engineering and Brain and Cognitive Sciences, at the MIT Media Lab and the MIT McGovern Institute. He leads the Synthetic Neurobiology Group, which develops tools for analyzing and engineering the circuits of the brain. These technologies, created often in interdisciplinary collaborations, include 'optogenetic' tools, which enable the activation and silencing of neural circuit elements with light, 3-D microfabricated neural interfaces, and robotic methods for performing single-cell analyses in living brain. He has received the NIH Director's New Innovator Award, the Society for Neuroscience Research Award for Innovation in Neuroscience, the Paul Allen Distinguished Investigator Award, the Perl/UNC prize, the A. F. Harvey Prize, the Grete Lundbeck “Brain” Prize, amongst other recognitions. He has contributed to over 300 peer-reviewed papers, current or pending patents, and articles, and has given over 200 invited talks on his work.