"Controlling neuronal activity with light: from brain waves to single synapses"

Abstract:

The large number of photoswitchable biomolecules discovered and developed in recent years covers a great variety of cellular functions like catalysis of metabolic processes, cytoskeletal polymerization and motors, nucleic acids dynamics, intracellular signaling and perhaps most dazzlingly membrane excitability, which has been at the focus of photopharmacology and optogenetics to study neurobiology. The dream of precisely and remotely photocontrolling every aspect of neuronal activity in intact tissue appears within reach and offers the promise of understanding the underlying molecular mechanisms. Recent and ongoing projects at IBEC focused on photopharmacology will be reviewed, including the development and applications of photoswitchable ligands of ion channels and receptors to control neuronal excitation and inhibition with light. These molecular tools allow spatiotemporal control of endogenous proteins in vivo and at multiple scales, from emerging cortical waves in the brain to individual synapses. 

Biography:

Pau Gorostiza graduated in physics at the University of Barcelona (UB), where he obtained his PhD (European Doctorate) in the field of semiconductor electrochemistry. He worked at the UB microscopy facility in atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) of biological samples, and in nanotechnology for materials science. He visited the CNRS - Université Pierre et Marie Curie (France), and the University of California at Berkeley (USA). He is currently ICREA Research Professor at the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, where he develops photoswitchable ligands of neuronal proteins and studies charge transport in redox proteins and photosynthetic complexes using electrochemical STM/AFM. He obtained a Human Frontier Science Program (HFSP) Career Development Award, two European Research Council (ERC) grants, and coordinates a European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder Open grant, among other public and private funding grants. He published more than 140 articles (7100 citations, h-index 46) and holds 9 patents (5 licensed). He has supervised 14 postdoctoral fellows and 15 PhDs (6 more ongoing).