{"63642":{"#nid":"63642","#data":{"type":"news","title":"LCD Projector Used to Control Brains \u0026 Muscles of Tiny Organisms","body":[{"value":"\u003Cp\u003EResearchers are using inexpensive components from ordinary liquid crystal display (LCD) projectors to control the brains and muscles of tiny organisms, including freely moving worms.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ERed, green and blue lights from a projector activate light-sensitive microbial proteins that are genetically engineered into the worms, allowing the researchers to switch neurons on and off like light bulbs and turn muscles on and off like engines.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EUse of the LCD technology to control small animals advances the field of optogenetics -- a mix of optical and genetic techniques that has given researchers unparalleled control over brain circuits in laboratory animals. Until now, the technique could be used only with larger animals by placement of an optical fiber into an animal\u0027s brain, or required illumination of an animal\u0027s entire body.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA paper published Jan. 16 in the advance online edition of the journal \u003Cem\u003ENature Methods\u003C\/em\u003E describes how the inexpensive illumination technology allows researchers to stimulate and silence specific neurons and muscles of freely moving worms, while precisely controlling the location, duration, frequency and intensity of the light.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This illumination instrument significantly enhances our ability to control, alter, observe and investigate how neurons, muscles and circuits ultimately produce behavior in animals,\u0022 said Hang Lu, an associate professor in the School of Chemical \u0026amp; Biomolecular Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology.\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ELu and graduate students Jeffrey Stirman and Matthew Crane developed the tool with support from the National Institutes of Health and the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe illumination system includes a modified off-the-shelf LCD projector, which is used to cast a multi-color pattern of light onto an animal. The independent red, green and blue channels allow researchers to activate excitable cells sensitive to specific colors, while simultaneously silencing others. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Because the central component of the illumination system is a commercially available projector, the system\u0027s cost and complexity are dramatically reduced, which we hope will enable wider adoption of this tool by the research community,\u0022 explained Lu.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBy connecting the illumination system to a microscope and combining it with video tracking, the researchers are able to track and record the behavior of freely moving animals, while maintaining the lighting in the intended anatomical position. When the animal moves, changes to the light\u0027s location, intensity and color can be updated in less than 40 milliseconds.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EOnce Lu and her team built the prototype system, they used it to explore the \u0022touch\u0022 circuit of the worm \u003Cem\u003ECaenorhabditis elegans\u003C\/em\u003E by exciting and inhibiting its mechano-sensory and locomotion neurons. Alexander Gottschalk, a professor in the Johann Wolfgang Goethe-University Frankfurt Institute of Biochemistry in Frankfurt, Germany, and his team provided the light-sensitive optogenetic reagents for the Georgia Tech experiments.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EFor their first experiment, the researchers illuminated the head of a worm at regular intervals while the animal moved forward. This produced a coiling effect in the head and caused the worm to crawl in a triangular pattern. In another experiment, the team scanned light along the bodies of worms from head to tail, which resulted in backward movement when neurons near the head were stimulated and forward movement when neurons near the tail were stimulated.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gtresearchnews.gatech.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Supplemental-Video-1-triangle.mov\u0022\u003EWatch a movie\u003C\/a\u003E showing Georgia Tech researchers illuminating the head of a worm expressing light-sensitive optogenetic reagents. The light produces a coiling effect in the head and causes the worm to crawl in a triangular pattern.\u003C\/em\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cem\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/gtresearchnews.gatech.edu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/01\/Supplemental-Video-2-puppet.mov\u0022\u003EWatch a movie\u003C\/a\u003E showing how researchers at Georgia Tech use light from an LCD projector to directly control the muscles of an immobilized worm.\u003C\/em\u003E\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAdditional experiments showed that the intensity of the light affected a worm\u0027s behavior and that several optogenetic reagents excited at different wavelengths could be combined in one experiment to understand circuit functions. The researchers were able to examine a large number of animals under a variety of conditions, demonstrating that the technique\u0027s results were both robust and repeatable. \n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022This instrument allowed us to control defined events in defined locations at defined times in an intact biological system, allowing us to dissect animal functional circuits with greater precision and nuance,\u0022 added Lu.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWhile these proof-of-concept studies investigated the response of \u003Cem\u003EC. elegans\u003C\/em\u003E to mechanical stimulation, the illumination system can also be used to evaluate responses to chemical, thermal and visual stimuli. Researchers can also use it to study a variety of neurons and muscles in other small animals, such as the zebrafish and fruit fly larvae.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u0022Experiments with this illumination system yield quantitative behavior data that cannot be obtained by manual touch assays, laser cell ablation, or genetic manipulation of neurotransmitters,\u0022 said Lu.\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EResearch News \u0026amp; Publications Office\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nGeorgia Institute of Technology\u003Cbr \/\u003E\n75 Fifth Street, N.W., Suite 314\u003Cbr \/\u003E\nAtlanta, Georgia  30308  USA\u003C\/strong\u003E\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EMedia Relations Contacts:\u003C\/strong\u003E Abby Robinson (abby@innovate.gatech.edu; 404-385-3364) or John Toon (jtoon@gatech.edu; 404-894-6986)\n\u003C\/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EWriter:\u003C\/strong\u003E Abby Robinson\u003C\/p\u003E","summary":null,"format":"limited_html"}],"field_subtitle":"","field_summary":[{"value":"Researchers are using LCD projectors to control the brains \u0026amp; muscles of tiny organisms, including freely moving worms. This technology advances the field of optogenetics, which has given researchers unparalleled control over brain circuits in lab animals.","format":"limited_html"}],"field_summary_sentence":[{"value":"LCD technology has advanced the field of optogenetics"}],"uid":"27206","created_gmt":"2011-01-16 01:00:00","changed_gmt":"2016-10-08 03:08:02","author":"Abby Vogel Robinson","boilerplate_text":"","field_publication":"","field_article_url":"","dateline":{"date":"2011-01-16T00:00:00-05:00","iso_date":"2011-01-16T00:00:00-05:00","tz":"America\/New_York"},"extras":[],"hg_media":{"63643":{"id":"63643","type":"image","title":"Hang Lu Jeffrey Stirman Matthew Crane","body":null,"created":"1449176690","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:04:50","changed":"1475894559","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:39","alt":"Hang Lu Jeffrey Stirman Matthew Crane","file":{"fid":"191843","name":"tst06498.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tst06498_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tst06498_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1574002,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tst06498_0.jpg?itok=QIvW-iuy"}},"63644":{"id":"63644","type":"image","title":"worm triangular head pattern","body":null,"created":"1449176690","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:04:50","changed":"1475894559","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:39","alt":"worm triangular head pattern","file":{"fid":"191844","name":"tyx06498.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tyx06498_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tyx06498_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":301506,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tyx06498_0.jpg?itok=hHeQMr4y"}},"63645":{"id":"63645","type":"image","title":"Hang Lu Stirman Crane","body":null,"created":"1449176690","gmt_created":"2015-12-03 21:04:50","changed":"1475894559","gmt_changed":"2016-10-08 02:42:39","alt":"Hang Lu Stirman Crane","file":{"fid":"191845","name":"tnw06498.jpg","image_path":"\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tnw06498_0.jpg","image_full_path":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/\/sites\/default\/files\/images\/tnw06498_0.jpg","mime":"image\/jpeg","size":1776824,"path_740":"http:\/\/hg.gatech.edu\/sites\/default\/files\/styles\/740xx_scale\/public\/images\/tnw06498_0.jpg?itok=ZfnLWlc_"}}},"media_ids":["63643","63644","63645"],"related_links":[{"url":"http:\/\/dx.doi.org\/10.1038\/nmeth.1555","title":"Nature Methods paper"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/fac_staff\/faculty\/lu.php","title":"Dr. Hang Lu"},{"url":"http:\/\/www.chbe.gatech.edu\/","title":"School of Chemical \u0026 Biomolecular Engineering"}],"groups":[{"id":"1188","name":"Research Horizons"}],"categories":[{"id":"141","name":"Chemistry and Chemical Engineering"},{"id":"145","name":"Engineering"},{"id":"146","name":"Life Sciences and Biology"},{"id":"135","name":"Research"},{"id":"150","name":"Physics and Physical Sciences"}],"keywords":[{"id":"11638","name":"C. elegans"},{"id":"898","name":"Hang Lu"},{"id":"11637","name":"lcd projector"},{"id":"11639","name":"muscle"},{"id":"7276","name":"neuron"},{"id":"11640","name":"optogenetic reagants"},{"id":"11635","name":"optogenetics"},{"id":"11636","name":"projector"},{"id":"171058","name":"silencing"},{"id":"171059","name":"stimulation"}],"core_research_areas":[],"news_room_topics":[],"event_categories":[],"invited_audience":[],"affiliations":[],"classification":[],"areas_of_expertise":[],"news_and_recent_appearances":[],"phone":[],"contact":[{"value":"\u003Cstrong\u003EAbby Robinson\u003C\/strong\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003EResearch News and Publications\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Ca href=\u0022http:\/\/www.gatech.edu\/contact\/index.html?id=avogel6\u0022\u003EContact Abby Robinson\u003C\/a\u003E\u003Cbr \/\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E404-385-3364\u003C\/strong\u003E","format":"limited_html"}],"email":["abby@innovate.gatech.edu"],"slides":[],"orientation":[],"userdata":""}}}