Systems, methods, and workflows for optogenetics analysis

US9207237B2 · kind B2 · utility

Assignee

• President and Fellows of Harvard College · US

Inventors

• Adam Cohen · Cambridge, US
• Joel Kralj · Somerville, US
• Adam D. Douglass · Salt Lake City, US
• Daniel Hochbaum · Cambridge, US

Key dates

• Filing date: Jun 12, 2014
• Grant date: Dec 8, 2015
• Expiry date: Jun 12, 2034

Classification

• Technology area (CPC G): Physics
• CPC primary: G01N2333/705
• WIPO field: Pharmaceuticals
• WIPO sector: Chemistry

Abstract

The invention provides methods for characterizing cellular physiology by incorporating into an electrically excitable cell an optical reporter of, and an optical actuator of, electrical activity. A signal is obtained from the optical reporter in response to a stimulation of the cell. Either or both of the optical reporter and actuator may be based on genetically-encoded rhodopsins incorporated into the cell. The invention provides all optical methods that may be used instead of, or as a complement to, traditional patch clamp technologies and that can provide rapid, accurate, and flexible assays of cellular physiology.