Harvard College

Adam D Douglass

Adam Ezra Cohen

Joel Kralj

Daniel Hochbaum

Joel M Kralj

The invention provides methods, cells and constructs for optical measurement of membrane potential. These methods can be used in cells that are not accessible to presently available methods using electrodes. The methods can be directed to, for example, high-throughput drug screening assays to determine agents that can affect membrane potential of a target cell.

Optogenetic probes for measuring membrane potential

The invention provides methods for characterizing cellular physiology by incorporating into an electrically excitable cell an optical reporter of, and an optical actuator of, electrical activity. A signal is obtained from the optical reporter in response to a stimulation of the cell. Either or both of the optical reporter and actuator may be based on genetically-encoded rhodopsins incorporated into the cell. The invention provides all optical methods that may be used instead of, or as a complement to, traditional patch clamp technologies and that can provide rapid, accurate, and flexible assays of cellular physiology.

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Salt Lake City, UT, United States of America

Adam D Douglass