Optogenetic techniques have been developed to allow control over the activity of selected
cells within a highly heterogeneous tissue, using a combination of genetic engineering and …

Modern optogenetics can be tuned to evoke activity that corresponds to naturally occurring
local or global activity in timing, magnitude or individual-cell patterning. This outcome has …

A key assumption of optogenetics is that light only affects opsin-expressing neurons.
However, illumination invariably heats tissue, and many physiological processes are …

Tremendous progress has been made since Neuron published our Primer on genetic
dissection of neural circuits 10 years ago. Since then, cell-type-specific anatomical …

Over the past 10 years, the development and convergence of microbial opsin engineering,
modular genetic methods for cell-type targeting and optical strategies for guiding light …

Optogenetic tools enable examination of how specific cell types contribute to brain circuit
functions. A long-standing question is whether it is possible to independently activate two …

INTRODUCTION The drive to seek and experience reward is conserved across species and,
in mammals, involves interactions between subcortical dopaminergic systems and limbic …

Organisms of all domains of life use photoreceptor proteins to sense and respond to light.
The light-sensitivity of photoreceptor proteins arises from bound chromophores such as …

The ability to study cellular physiology using photosensitive, genetically encoded molecules
has profoundly transformed neuroscience. The modern optogenetic toolbox includes …

Reversible silencing of neuronal activity is a powerful approach for isolating the roles of
specific neuronal populations in circuit dynamics and behavior. In contrast with neuronal …