Cosyne 2008 Workshops
March 4, 2008
Snow Bird, Utah
Workshop Title
How to solve systems neuroscience problems with molecular tools
Organizer(s)
Ed Boyden (MIT): esb@media.mit.edu
Abstract
What the workshop is to address and accomplish: The last decade has seen a huge surge of creativity in the development of new molecular tools for the observation and manipulation of neural circuits, which in principle will open up vast new horizons in our understanding of the brain. However, to use these tools for optimal power will take time and ingenuity (look at the permutations that patch clamping, or confocal microscopy, have taken over decades of use). We will set out to understand the art of applying novel molecular technologies to the understanding of neural circuits. By bringing together scientists who are both inventing new tools and applying them to neural circuit functions, we will explore this frontier in the informal CoSyNe workshop format.
Why the topic is of interest: Due to the anatomical complexity, inaccessibility, and heterogeneity of the brain, neuroscience is, perhaps more than any other field, impacted by technology. Brain slices, cell culture, the microelectrode, patch clamping, GFP, confocal and two-photon microscopy, calcium dyes -- each has led to a huge advance in our understanding of the brain. However, tools are now appearing at a fast rate: we must not only invent tools, but learn how to apply them in creative ways. We will explore this topic in this CoSyNe workshop. We must develop not only new and revolutionary technologies, but methodologies and principles of usage, to open up entirely new frontiers on the brain.
Who the targeted group of participants is: Neuroscientists interested in doing ground-breaking, scientifically-impactful experiments.
Speakers
| 8:00-8:10 introduction (10 mins) |
| 8:10-8:45 Thomas Knopfel (30 mins talk + 5 mins questions ) |
| Targeted optical probing of neuronal circuit dynamics using |
| fluorescent protein sensors |
| 8:45-9:20 Dejan Vucinic (30 mins talk + 5 mins questions ) |
| Wearable Acousto-Optic Brain Interface |
| 9:20-9:40 break (20 mins) |
| 9:40-10:15 Liam Paninski (30 mins talk + 5 mins questions ) |
| Statistical inference of spike times, calcium dynamics, and voltage |
| given noisy, intermittently-sampled fluorescence imaging data |
| 10:15-10:50 Alan Jasanoff (30 mins talk + 5 mins questions ) |
| MRI contrast agents for functional molecular imaging of brain activity |
| Skiing break. |
| 4:30-5:05 Ehud Isacoff (30 mins talk + 5 mins questions ) |
| Engineered light-gated excitatory receptors for analysis of the neural |
| basis of behavior |
| 5:05-5:40 Ed Boyden (30 mins talk + 5 mins questions ) |
| Genetically-Targeted Optical Neuromodulation: Towards Circuitwide |
| Control of Normal and Pathological Neural Computation |
| 5:40-6:00 break (20 mins) |
| 6:00-6:35 Ed Callaway (30 mins talk + 5 mins questions ) |
| Viral and Genetic Methods for Mapping and Manipulating Neural Circuits |
| 6:35-7:10 Botond Roska (30 mins talk + 5 mins questions ) |
| Rescuing visual sensitivity by cell type specific expression of ChR2 |
| in retinal ON bipolar cells |
| 7:10-7:30 Open discussion (20 mins) |
