Development of optical control technologies and elucidation of biological mechanisms

This research area promotes the development of optical control technologies and their applications. Recently, optical control technologies such as optogenetics, have caused revolutionary advances in life-science research by virtue of their characteristic ability for control with extreme spatiotemporal resolution. Given their reversibility, as well as their amenability to real-time monitoring, these technologies are expected to be adopted rapidly in the diverse fields of biology and medicine. On the other hand, these technologies still require improvements to enable better understanding of biological mechanisms: cellular toxicity of blue light, undesired effects of the transgene, development of long wavelength photoreceptor proteins, among others. In addition, the invasiveness associated with implanted light probes or transgenes should be overcome for clinical applications. Thus, the aim of this research area is the development of optical control technologies to overcome the aforementioned problems, and the elucidation of the mechanism of biological functions by means of these technologies. To understand and regulate intricate biological systems, we solicit research proposals in the fields of neuroscience, immunology, developmental biology, regenerative medicine, and cancer research among others.