David Bensimon
Laboratoire de Physique Statistique, Ecole Normale Superieur, Paris, France
Date
24 April 2013
Host
Christof Aegerter
Title
Optical Control of Developmental Processes in Zebrafish
Abstract
Living organisms are made of cells that are capable of responding to external signals by modifying their internal state. To study these responses, various groups have developed means (some of which come under the heading of optogenetics) to control and monitor physiological processes by light. I will review the current status of the field and present our results regarding the development of means to optically control the expression and activity of proteins at the single cell level in a live organism and its use as a tool to study morphogenesis in zebrafish. Our approach uses light to control the activity of small biomolecules either through isomerisation or uncaging.