Albert Cardona“To expand the repertoire of endogenous cellular communication, we developed a synthetic, photon-assisted synaptic transmission (PhAST) system. PhAST is based on luciferases and channelrhodopsins that enable the transmission of a neuronal state across space, using photons as neurotransmitters.”
Porta-de-la-Riva et al. 2023 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41592-023-01836-9
What a fun project and cool finding, and made in #Catalunya to top it off at the Photonic Science Institute.
Combine that with #photopharmacology and neural circuits may be able to dose themselves according to activity patterns.
#neuroscience #PhAST #Luciferase #ChannelRhodopsin #biophotonics #optogenetics
Neural engineering with photons as synaptic transmitters - Nature Methods
PhAST is a technology for establishing de novo or modulating synaptic transmission in a light-dependent manner in C. elegans. By combining a calcium-dependent luciferase on pre-synapses with channelrhodopsin on post-synapses, light serves as a synthetic neurotransmitter.