Light-Gated Ion Channels

How an ion channel engineered to open or close in response to light lets a cell's electrical activity be controlled with light instead of a natural chemical or electrical trigger.

References

• Boyden, E.S., Zhang, F., Bamberg, E., Nagel, G., Deisseroth, K. "Millisecond-Timescale, Genetically Targeted Optical Control of Neural Activity." Nature Neuroscience 8, no. 9 (2005): 1263–1268.