Date : 26/03/2009

Laboratory
Neurophysiology and New Microscopies Laboratory
CNRS UMR8154, INSERM S603
Université Paris Descartes
45, rue des Saints Pères
F - 75270 Paris Cedex 06
Director : Serge Charpak

PhD Supervisor
Valentina Emiliani
email : Cet e-mail est protégé contre les robots collecteurs de mails, votre navigateur doit accepter le Javascript pour le voir
phone : +33 1 42 86 42 53

Subjects / Tools-Methodologies:
1 :Super resolution imaging / STED
2 : Wave front enginerring / Spatial light modulators
3 :Signal transmission in brain / Fluorescence

Summary of lab's interests

The investigation of signal transmission in brain requires to reproduce and/or observe physiological events that occur on a wide range of spatiotemporal scales, from e.g. the localized brief (μs) transient associated with a single (sub micron) synaptic event to the complex arithmetic that dendrites use in integrating (μs-ms) multiple localized synaptic inputs (several micrometers apart). Light microscopy is a fundamental tool in neuroscience offering a sensitive and non-invasive approach to probe and mimic such brain complexity. The interest of this team is to develop a specific class of optical techniques based on spatiotemporal engineering of optical wave-fronts obtained by phase modulation solely. This approach is used in a broad ranges of optical technique comprising the remote control of neural activity by holographic patterned photoexcitation, super resolution microscopuy and patterned microendoscopy.

Summary of project

Stimulated Emission Microscopy (STED) allows breaking the diffraction limit of traditional confocal fluorescence microscopes. The gradual improvement of this technique, concomitant with a fine understanding of photochemistry of fluorophores, allowed the resolution of biological structures down to 15-20nm in size, corresponding to a ten-fold improvement of confocal microsopy. During the past few years, STED microscopy has become the most promising imaging technique in bio-sciences. In this project it is planed to i) build up a STED microscope according to its original design from S. Hell; ii) open its use to neurobiological projects in the framework of a collaboritve project financed by Paris School of Neurosciences (ENP) (research network for advanced studies (RTRA); iii) test a number of possible improvements of the technique based on the wave front engineering of the STED beam.