Communications of the ACM
Seeing the Brain's Electrical Activity
Massachusetts Institute of Technology researchers have developed a light-sensitive protein capable of embedding itself within neuron membranes, where it discharges a fluorescent signal that indicates how much voltage a particular cell is experiencing.
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Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) say they have developed a light-sensitive protein capable of embedding itself within neuron membranes, where it discharges a fluorescent signal that indicates how much voltage a particular cell is experiencing.
The researchers generated 1.5 million mutated versions of a light-sensitive protein, and then placed each gene into mammalian cells; they then cultured the cells and employed an automated microscope to take pictures. A robot identified cells with proteins that met the desired criteria, and the batch was further refined until a top-performing protein candidate was produced.
The team believes this breakthrough could enable scientists to study millisecond-scale neuron behavior as the brain performs a specific function.
"We will be able to watch a neural computation happen," predicts MIT professor Edward Boyden. "Over the next five years or so we're going to try to solve some small brain circuits completely."
From MIT News
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