... or poor scalability.  Scientists at Janelia Research Campus and the University of California, Berkeley...across broader physical areas of the brain and enable access to neurons that are physically blocked, such...driven by neurons. By studying how neurons are physically connected, we can begin to understand how the...Therefore, by simply looking at how neurons are physically connected we can begin to understand how the ...region (anterograde tracer, Fig. 1B). Tracers are typically delivered to a particular location and they either...retrograde tracer) (Fig. 2). Viruses as neuronal scalpels Viruses can be injected into the brain and efficiently...neuronal signaling, or manipulating any other genetically controlled function. By using AAVrg in Cre transgenic...

...protein. The electrical system converts the fluorescence intensity to a voltage pulse, called an event, ...of the population as a whole, scientists gain statistical power in their observations. However, while flow...subcellular analysis such as morphology or subcellular localization studies. For these, alternative methods such...Cells are first resuspended in a pressurized buffer called sheath fluid and transported through tubes or capillaries...in single-file where it is interrogated by the optical system (Figure 1).   Figure 1: Cells expressing...complexity, measured using visible light scatter The optical system has both visible and fluorescent light sources...same direction as it was initially traveling is called forward scatter (FSC) and provides information ...

...compute using electrical impulses to coordinate emotions, thoughts, and behavior. Historically, scientists...To bring greater control to Acr activity as a biological tool, Niopek and colleagues turned to optogenetics...fusions, and xCas9, and requires no additional chemicals or modifications. This versatility opens up the...scientists study the electrical activity in the brain by inserting electrodes into the brain. But this process...and expensive. Thus scientists have turned to genetically encoded voltage indicators. To expand the voltage...thousands of proteins for one that can report electrical activity via imaging. They took the light-sensitive...light-sensitive protein QuasAr2 and systematically mutated it. Using a robotic picking approach to select cells...

...working on new experimental and theoretical methods to push the scale of genetic engineering, with the... genomic scale, with the expectation for major advances in agriculture, materials, chemicals, and medicine...to get everything to the scale of building synthetic genomes or genome-scale construction projects. Not... make a very large number of regulators. That basically means larger genetic circuits that could conceivably...material as sophisticated as wood. To build at that scale, we also have to think through programming cells... ground up, but so that genetic designs of that scale could be created. Someone could take on an engineering...resource control - everything that’s necessary on that scale.  If you look at what we’ve already put in, the ...

...in their ability to be specifically and potently activated by pharmacologically selective effector molecules...wiring of the brain and the underpinnings of neurological disease, neuroscientists need to be able to ...What is chemogenetics? Chemogenetics relies on genetically introducing engineered receptors that are only...co-developed by Bryan Roth's and Takafumi Minamimoto's lab called deschloroclozapine (DCZ) shows promise as a CNO...et al., 2019). Using PSAMs PSAMs PSAMs, or pharmacologically selective actuator modules, were developed... such as varenicline, are already approved for clinical use. Varenicline has been further modified to ... create ultrapotent PSEMS (uPSEMs) that have drastically increased potency. Download our chemogenetics...

...formulating new biological concepts. However, rates of reproducibility for preclinical studies, as reported...on solutions to reproducibility issues in the biological sciences and featured speakers from academia,...Overview - Jeffrey S. Flier, Researcher at Harvard Medical School, former dean of the faculty of Medicine ...2017 and Schmmidt 2009, but for our purposes we’ll call a study reproducible if its findings can be predictably...to your own research and thereby help move the biological research enterprise towards greater reproducibility...experiment, you’ll need to analyze your results. As biological researchers deal with larger and larger datasets...stories has, however, made it difficult to publish so-called “negative” results that conflict with our original...

...responsivity in screening ASAP3 variants. B) Electrical and optical recordings of spontaneous activity in human...protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are critical components of many physiological pathways and represent the largest...GPCR. Example applications include large-scale pharmacological profiling or interrogation of context-dependent... created ASAP5, a faster and more responsive genetically-encoded voltage indicator (GEVI) than previous...mEPSPs has been possible with conventional electrophysiological methods, it has remained difficult with ...largest family of human drug targets. To enable large-scale profiling of many GPCRs, Mikel Garcia-Marcos’ lab... collection of BRET-based ONE vector G-protein Optical (ONE-GO) biosensors (Janicot and Maziarz et al....

...research? I grew up knowing little to no biological or biomedical scientists and had no idea what the daily... global problems. Biomedical research, for instance, contributes heavily to medical practice, and understanding...the Daily Psychological Experiences of First-Generation College Students. Social Psychological and Personality...hazardous liquids. Working in a lab is nothing like a typical part-time or 9-to-5 job. I had to ask to find out...In basic science (as opposed to translational, biomedical, or applied sciences), people conduct research...with what happens in the lab Official title is typically Professor, Assistant Professor, Associate Professor...project. Lab technician / Research assistant Typically has a Master's or Bachelor's degree Generally ...

...pAAV-hSyn-mCherry Read on to learn more!  Calcium sensor AAV The GFP-based calcium sensors are single-wavelength ...Addgene! Archon1, a voltage sensor AAV Historically, electrical activity in the brain was measured with...sensors with intensities that change in response to calcium binding. There are a few versions of these jGCaMP7...brightest resting fluorescence of the GCaMP7 family of calcium sensors and can be used for imaging of small neuronal...variant of jGCaMP7 in AAV1 at Addgene! See all calcium sensor AAV at Addgene. GABA sensor AAV GABA is ... directly imaging GABA have been limited. Like calcium sensors, different iGABASnFR have been developed...(pAAV.hSyn-FLEX.iGABASnFR) has good membrane localization and brightness. The F102G variant (pAAV.hSyn-FLEX.iGABASnFR.F102G...

...nuclear localization of fluorescent proteins, they found that adding a triple nuclear localization signal...fluorescence protein-based calcium sensors (jYCaMP1), variants of the calcium indicator jGCaMP7, that are...with red fluorescence protein-based calcium sensors. These new calcium sensors include syn-jYCaMP1s (slow...purified recombinant proteins at small and large scale.  This new technique involves selection in the cytosol...compartments in mammalian cells By Angela Abitua Genetically encoded fluorescent proteins are often used to...specific structures, compartments, or specific localization of biomolecules within cells. However, sometimes...sometimes these fluorescent proteins might not localize to the right places, which can provide misleading...

...to develop strategies to make our classes more practical and hands-on. Students in these courses get plenty...quick flashback to time spent playing a card game called “Magic”. There were complicated rules that governed...upon who your challenger was, you might have to drastically alter your strategy. I realized that similar ...engineering and strategic knowledge to solve a clinical disease case. As a teacher, you explain the game...strategies while noting any gaps in their knowledge. Practically speaking the format I decided on was to have ...of 4 people face each other on a single chosen clinical disease case. Then, each team received a whole...build a transfer plasmid that could be used to genetically manipulate human stem cells. Then they had 10...

...Research Fellow with Pamela Silver.  Most types of biological motion (whether endocytosis, vesicle trafficking...it to suit our purposes? In search of simple biological machines R bodies can repeatedly extend and...R-bodies, check out this video. Most types of biological motion (whether endocytosis, vesicle trafficking...to pH changes without the need for ATP or other chemical fuel sources. Like an actin filament or a microtubule...polymers, however, R bodies do not exert force by dynamically rearranging into different polymerization states...body monomers respond to pH changes by undergoing local conformational changes. These tiny movements are...by propagating through an enormous lattice of identical subunits. A brief history of R bodies R bodies...

... has been critical to the Broad’s success over the last 11 years and was certainly critical to drawing...background in history and specifically the history of RNAi left him a bit skeptical of the technology at the...cancer biology in Ed Harlow’s group at Harvard Medical School and then applied to work at the Broad Institute...towards the Broad. In order to ask interesting biological questions, you need a tremendous amount of technology... in true collaboration with scientists asking biological questions. Doench loves that he still gets to...terms of determining what genes are involved in biological process X, you can do with CRISPR technology....with Addgene - he says he’s “known of Addgene basically since the beginning and [has] been using Addgene...

... Clinical applications Viruses in vaccines helped pave the way for their use in other clinical applications...vector from basic science research all the way to clinical gene therapy. But how can you use these amazing...and delivering a genetic payload. This cargo is typically their own genome, but this step can be engineered...’ve decided on an application, our Viruses as Biological Tools blog can help you learn about the different... express proteins. Viral expression cassettes typically contain a promoter (inducible or constitutive)...delivery Screening libraries, large collections of biological independent variables, are becoming increasingly...development well over a hundred years ago. Since then, medical technology has changed a lot, but viruses have ...

...Rather than inhibiting protein function, these so-called “small molecule degraders” recruit the proteasome...degraders provide distinct advantages over pharmacological inhibitors including rapidly depleting a protein-of-interest...resistance to inhibitors, and inducing prolonged biological effects. While targeted degradation of endogenous...selective degradation of protein targets in time scales that are not possible with traditional genetic ...here. The Methods section of Nabet et al., Nature Chemical Biology additionally provides detailed information...FKBP12F36V binding ligand (ortho-AP1867) via various chemical linkers. Our current lead dTAG molecule is dTAG...FKBP12F36V-tagged LACZ) with dTAG molecules in your biological assay of choice to ensure that there are no toxicities...

...pathway (Raf1, EGRF), the KTR localized to the cytoplasm. This all-optical psMEK1 + ERK KTR-mRuby2 system...since other signaling networks can also be non-specifically activated and, like the game of telephone, often...must be transmitted by intermediate messengers. Optical control of kinase activity can provide greater ...greater spatiotemporal resolution than pharmacological or genetic approaches, but only a few such methods exist...Problem:  There is no common method for creating optically controlled kinases. The Solution: In Zhou et al...constitutively active MEK1. This photoswitchable MEK1 is called psMEK1. When exposed to 500 nm violet light, the...phosphorylation, much like endogenous ERK, and its localization serves as an indicator of MEK1 activity. When...

... 2016; Constantini et al, 2012). The localization and biological properties of new fusions can be compared...previous two posts in this series described a practical approach to selecting a bright fluorescent protein...ultracentrifugation. Sedimentation equilibrium analytical ultracentrifugation yields an affinity and has...efforts tested whether FP fusions to connexin localized correctly to gap junctions (Shaner et al, 2008... with native interactions, preventing proper localization in these assays. However, these strategies will...most likely in an antiparallel configuration), typical structures known as Organized Smooth Endoplasmic...the performance of fluorescent proteins in your biological system with the microscope that you will be using...

...networks underlying your favorite biological phenotype in a scalable way. This blog post will introduce...by guest blogger Alan Wong. The complexity of biological systems can hinder our attempts to study and ... guide RNAs (gRNAs) for genome editing in large-scale has led to the rapid generation of genome-wide gRNA...genetic perturbations in single cells. Methods to scale up multiplexed CRISPR systems for high-throughput... genetics that underlie complex regulation in biological systems. The CombiGEM platform provides a means...currently an Assistant Professor at the School of Biomedical Sciences of the University of Hong Kong. He is...technologies to interrogate and understand complex biological systems. He can be contacted at [email protected]. ...

...Organization has declared a global health emergency and called for the fast-tracked development of diagnostics...was a new class of programmable riboregulators, called toehold switches, which allow for the rational ...outbreak was reported, and we felt that, given the critical need for low-cost, field-based diagnostics, our...Our motivation was underscored by the potential scale of the emerging outbreak, as many as 2.2 billion...timeline to develop our paper-based platform into clinically relevant diagnostics for the Zika virus was daunting...ability to complete the project on such a short timescale. Our article ultimately reported the development...that has transformed the assay’s capabilities. Specifically this includes primer directed isothermal RNA...

... many biological research situations, the relevant volume is that of the cell. For the physical behaviors...major applications of FPs is to visualize the localization, dynamics, and behavior of a POI. As an investigator...monomeric FPs are not actually monomeric, at least in practical terms. The propensity of a particular type of ...fusion protein, as in a FRET biosensor, then the local concentration of FPs around that fusion protein ...consequences can be dramatic. For a membrane POI localized to the endoplasmic reticulum, the normally spiderweb-like...structures are large (microns), bright, non-physiological, and difficult to ignore [1, 2]. 2. Fusion to...fusion proteins that form as a result will often localize incorrectly and may function improperly. 3. Incorporation...