Every lipid membrane can, in principle, support a voltage difference between its faces. This voltage regulates the free energy landscape of every protein and small molecule in the membrane. Yet membrane voltage has been notoriously difficult to measure. In many cases, the membranes are simply inaccessible to conventional electrodes.<br/><br/>We recently developed a technology for probing electrophysiology using light alone. A blue light-activated ion channel triggers membrane depolarizations, while a red light-activated fluorescent voltage indicator protein reports the response. We developed instrumentation for delivering arbitrarily complex patterns of blue light stimulation and for imaging the response with high resolution in space and time, over a large field of view. We will discuss recent applications of "Optopatch" across species and cell types: bacteria, plants, endothelial cells, primary dorsal root ganglia and central neurons, hiPSC-derived neurons and cardiomyocytes, and several cell-based disease models. A Cre-dependent transgenic mouse enables expression of the Optopatch genes in any tissue. Imaging in three-dimensional tissue remains a largely unresolved challenge. So too is the interpretation of the torrents of data that come from an Optopatch experiment.

<b>Address Award </b>(ACS Award in Pure Chemistry sponsored by the Alpha Chi Sigma Fraternity and the Alpha Chi Sigma Educational Foundation). Bringing bioelectricity to light

249th National Meeting (2015)

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Address Award (ACS Award in Pure Chemistry sponsored by the Alpha Chi Sigma Fraternity and the Alpha Chi Sigma Educational Foundation). Bringing bioelectricity to light