Gero Miesenböck

Associate Head of Department , Waynflete Professor of Physiology

Neural circuits: the interface of cellular and systems neuroscience.

Research Areas

Medical Sciences Division Themes

Neuroscience
Cell and Molecular Biology
Behavioural Science
Genetics and Genomics
Imaging

Neuroscience Sub-Themes

Neuroscience Keywords

Techniques and Equipment

Group Members

Dennis Kaetzel
Andrew Lin
Paul Overton
Moshe Parnas
Diogo Pimentel
Yan Tan
Robert D. Roorda
Eleftheria Vrontou

Web	Personal Website
Email	gero.miesenboeck@dpag.ox.ac.uk
Department	Department of Physiology, Anatomy and Genetics
College	Magdalen College

Optogenetics cover

Gero Miesenböck is Waynflete Professor of Physiology. A native of Austria, he received his medical degree from the University of Innsbruck in 1993 and then moved to the United States as a postdoctoral fellow with James Rothman. Before coming to Oxford in 2007, he held faculty appointments at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York and at Yale University. Miesenböck is the principal architect of the emerging field of "optogenetics", which develops genetic strategies for observing and controlling the function of brain circuits with light. He uses these optical approaches to read and change the minds of fruit flies (and other species); his current research focuses on the structure and dynamics of circuits involved in sensory processing, memory, action selection, and motor pattern generation. Further information can be found at Miesenböck Research

Sources of Funding

Medical Research Council
Human Frontier Science Program
Wellcome Trust

Selected Publications

Claridge-Chang Adam, Roorda Robert D, Vrontou Eleftheria, Sjulson Lucas, Li Haiyan, Hirsh Jay, and Miesenbock Gero (2009) Writing memories with light-addressable reinforcement circuitry. Cell, 139(2):405-15.

Miesenbock Gero (2009) The optogenetic catechism. Science, 326(5951):395-9.

Miesenbock Gero (2008) Lighting up the brain. Sci Am, 299(4):52-9.

Sjulson Lucas and Miesenbock Gero (2008) Rational optimization and imaging in vivo of a genetically encoded optical voltage reporter. J Neurosci, 28(21):5582-93.

Shang Yuhua, Claridge-Chang Adam, Sjulson Lucas, Pypaert Marc, and Miesenbock Gero (2007) Excitatory local circuits and their implications for olfactory processing in the fly antennal lobe. Cell, 128(3):601-12.

Sjulson Lucas and Miesenbock Gero (2007) Optical recording of action potentials and other discrete physiological events: a perspective from signal detection theory. Physiology (Bethesda), 22:47-55.

Lima Susana Q and Miesenbock Gero (2005) Remote control of behavior through genetically targeted photostimulation of neurons. Cell, 121(1):141-52.

Miesenbock Gero and Kevrekidis Ioannis G (2005) Optical imaging and control of genetically designated neurons in functioning circuits. Annu Rev Neurosci, 28:533-63.

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Neuroscience

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