BIONIC Center for Optogenetics and CLARITY
The field of Optogenetics has profoundly impacted neuroscience by giving scientists the ability to use microbial opsins and light to quickly activate or inactivate specific brain cell types with high temporal and spatial specificity. Methods such as Optogenetics (for function control) and CLARITY (a new neuroanatomy method for intact circuit mapping) enable scientists to understand brain circuit function and dysfunction at a depth that had previously been impossible, vastly expanding knowledge of the brain and its associated psychiatric and neurological disorders.
The Beckman Institute Optogenetics Neuroscience Initiative and CLARITY Center (the BIONIC Center) is a developing Caltech-wide research effort for the further development and application of optogenetics and clarity. The center benefits from Caltech’s existing interdisciplinary culture, is the home of state-of-the-art space and equipment, and is staffed with exceptional Caltech undergraduate, graduate students and postdoctoral scholars.