Articles in 2010

The use of adaptive optics to correct light distortions promises to greatly improve the imaging quality of thick biological tissues.

High-speed fluorescence imaging in all three dimensions at nanometer resolution will resolve, in finer detail, the workings of the living cell.

In 2011, we will see the arrival of new and improved sequencing technologies.

Genome-engineering tools with improved design and efficiency will become widely used.

X-ray free-electron lasers may enable single-molecule structure determination.

The application of systems approaches to human disease will continue to expand.

A brief description of the basic steps required to control cellular function with optogenetics is presented.

With the capacity to control cellular behaviors using light and genetically encoded light-sensitive proteins, optogenetics has opened new doors for experimentation across biological fields.

Optogenetics is routinely used to activate and inactivate genetically defined neuronal populations in vivo. A second optogenetic revolution will occur when spatially distributed and sparse neural assemblies can be precisely manipulated in behaving animals.

Rhodopsins from microalgae and eubacteria are powerful tools for manipulating the function of neurons and other cells, but these tools still have limitations. We discuss engineering approaches that can help advance optogenetics.

Optogenetics grows from an idea into a discipline. Monya Baker reports.

Optogenetics is a technology that allows targeted, fast control of precisely defined events in biological systems as complex as freely moving mammals. By delivering optical control at the speed (millisecond-scale) and with the precision (cell type–specific) required for biological processing, optogenetic approaches have opened new landscapes for the study of biology, both in health and disease.

Optogenetic modules offer cell biologists unprecedented new ways to poke and prod cells. The combination of these precision perturbative tools with observational tools, such as fluorescent proteins, may dramatically accelerate our ability to understand the inner workings of the cell.

Context-dependent assembly (CoDA) of zinc finger nucleases is reported. Starting from an archive of zinc finger modules known to function well together, effective multifinger arrays can be constructed using standard techniques. Also in this issue, Doyon et al. report rational design of nucleases with improved cleavage activity.

Fast, two-photon intravital imaging of a mechanically stabilized and physiologically intact preparation of the mouse lung is reported. It is used to monitor immune cells in the lung under normal and injured conditions.

A statistical framework for assigning confidence scores for protein-protein interaction data generated via affinity purification–mass spectrometry, called significance analysis of interactome (SAINT) is described.

Derivatizing glycosphingolipids, extracted from bovine brain or human erythrocytes, with a fluorescent tag allows their immobilization on an array which can be probed with glycan binding proteins.

Identification of residues critical for dimerization of the Fok1 nuclease domain of zinc-finger nucleases permits rational design of enzymes with improved cleavage activity and retained obligate heterodimerization. Also in this issue, Sander et al. report context-dependent assembly (CoDA), a simple method for designing zinc-finger nucleases.

A DNA walker–based system enables ordered, multistep synthesis of a peptide in a single solution.