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Lecture

Engineering Neurons: Optogenetics

In course

NX-436: Advanced methods for human neuromodulation

Neuromodulation is an expending field especially in human translational neuroscience and neurotechnology. This course will introduce to different approaches / technologies for neuromodulation, their underlying mechanisms of action and application in humans ...

Description

This lecture covers the engineering of neurons using light, chemicals, and sound. It delves into the basics of neural activity, action potentials, and the interaction between brain and behavior. The presentation progresses to the advanced techniques of optogenetics, chemogenetics, and sonogenetics, showcasing how these methods can modulate neural activity. The lecture highlights the significance of controlling brain-circuit activity to influence behavior, providing insights into the tools and concepts behind these cutting-edge technologies.

Instructor

Friedhelm Christoph Hummel

Official source

Ontological neighbourhood

Biology

Cell biology: Neurotransmission

Related concepts (32)

Neural oscillation

Neural oscillations, or brainwaves, are rhythmic or repetitive patterns of neural activity in the central nervous system. Neural tissue can generate oscillatory activity in many ways, driven either by mechanisms within individual neurons or by interactions between neurons. In individual neurons, oscillations can appear either as oscillations in membrane potential or as rhythmic patterns of action potentials, which then produce oscillatory activation of post-synaptic neurons.

Action potential

An action potential occurs when the membrane potential of a specific cell rapidly rises and falls. This depolarization then causes adjacent locations to similarly depolarize. Action potentials occur in several types of animal cells, called excitable cells, which include neurons, muscle cells, and in some plant cells. Certain endocrine cells such as pancreatic beta cells, and certain cells of the anterior pituitary gland are also excitable cells.

Neural circuit

A neural circuit (also known as a biological neural network BNNs) is a population of neurons interconnected by synapses to carry out a specific function when activated. Multiple neural circuits interconnect with one another to form large scale brain networks. Neural circuits have inspired the design of artificial neural networks, though there are significant differences. Early treatments of neural networks can be found in Herbert Spencer's Principles of Psychology, 3rd edition (1872), Theodor Meynert's Psychiatry (1884), William James' Principles of Psychology (1890), and Sigmund Freud's Project for a Scientific Psychology (composed 1895).

Membrane potential

Membrane potential (also transmembrane potential or membrane voltage) is the difference in electric potential between the interior and the exterior of a biological cell. That is, there is a difference in the energy required for electric charges to move from the internal to exterior cellular environments and vice versa, as long as there is no acquisition of kinetic energy or the production of radiation. The concentration gradients of the charges directly determine this energy requirement.

Neurotransmission

Neurotransmission (Latin: transmissio "passage, crossing" from transmittere "send, let through") is the process by which signaling molecules called neurotransmitters are released by the axon terminal of a neuron (the presynaptic neuron), and bind to and react with the receptors on the dendrites of another neuron (the postsynaptic neuron) a short distance away. A similar process occurs in retrograde neurotransmission, where the dendrites of the postsynaptic neuron release retrograde neurotransmitters (e.g.

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