Emiliani Group: Wavefront-engineering microscopy

Aurélien BEGUE, Vincent DE SARS, Valentina EMILIANI, Benoît FORGET, Philippe GIRARD, Julien GUEVEL, Marc GUILLON, Oscar HERNANDEZ-CUBERO, Marcel LAUTERBACH, Eirini PAPAGIAKOUMOU, Emiliano RONZITTI, Vivien SZABO, Cathie VENTALON

The investigation of signal transmission in brain requires to reproduce/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 aim 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 has the advantage of minimizing power losses, permitting a quick adaptability of the excitation pattern to the experimental context and allowing a true 3D sculpting of the excitation volumes.

The team activity is organized in four research lines:

  1. Spatiotemporal control of neuronal activity with patterned light
  2. Super resolution microscopy (STED) and scanning less microscopy
  3. Microendoscopy for awake animal imaging and for deep imaging
  4. Instrumentation


Recent publications
  1. A. Vaziri and V. Emiliani, Reshaping the optical dimension in optogenetics, Current Opinion in Neurobiology, Available online 29 December 2011.
  2. D. Oron, E. Papagiakoumou, F. Anselmi and V. Emiliani, Two-photon Optogenetics, Progress in Brain Research 194: Optogenetic Approaches to Control and Monitoring Neuronal Activities, edited by T. Knopfel and Ed Boyden, in press.
  3. F. Anselmi*, C. Ventalon*, A. Bègue, D. Ogden, and V. Emiliani, 3D imaging and photostimulation by remote focusing and holographic light patterning, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. (USA) 108, 19504–19509 (2011).
  4. S. Yang, E. Papagiakoumou, M. Guillon, V. de Sars, C.-M Tang, and V. Emiliani, 3D Holographic Photostimulation of the Dendritic Arbor, J. Neural Eng. 8, 046002 (2011).
  5. E. Papagiakoumou*, F. Anselmi*, A. Bègue*, V. de Sars, J. Gluckstad, E. Y. Isacoff, and V. Emiliani, Scanless two-photon excitation of channelrhodopsin-2, Nat. Meth. 7, 848-854 (2010).
  6. M. Zahid*, M. Velez-Fort*, E. Papagiakoumou, C. Ventalon, M. C. Angulo, and V. Emiliani, Holographic Photolysis for Multiple Cell Stimulation in Mouse Hippocampal Slices, Plos One 5, e9431 (2010).
  7. E. Papagiakoumou, V. de Sars, V. Emiliani, and D. Oron, Temporal focusing with spatially modulated excitation, Opt. Express 17, 5391-5401 (2009).
  8. E. Papagiakoumou, V. De Sars, D. Oron, and V. Emiliani, Patterned two-photon illumination by spatiotemporal shaping of ultrashort pulses, Opt. Express 16, 22039-22047 (2008).
  9. C. Lutz, T. S. Otis, V. DeSars, S. Charpak, D. A. DiGregorio, and V. Emiliani, Holographic photolysis of caged neurotransmitters, Nat. Meth. 5, 821-827 (2008).

Visiting Scientists
  • Cha Min Tang (University of Maryland, Medecine School);
  • Kaiwen Kam and Jason Worrell (Department of Neurobiology, UC Los Angeles).

Collaborations
  • Jennifer Curtis (Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta);
  • Jack Feldman (Department of Neurobiology, UC Los Angeles);
  • Gilles Fortin (Institut de Neurobiologie Alfred Fessard, Gif sur Yvette, France) ;
  • Jesper Gluckstad (Department of Photonics Engineering, Technical University of Denmark, http://www.ppo.dk/) ;
  • Ehud Isacoff (Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, UC Berkeley);
  • Dan Oron (Department of Physics of Complex Systems, Weizmann Institute of Science, Israel);
  • Paola Pedarzani (Department of Physiology, UCL, London, UK);
  • Cha Min Tang (University of Maryland, Medecine School);

  • Phasics (Orsay, France, http://www.phasicscorp.com/).
  • 3i (Denver, Colorado, USA, https://www.intelligent-imaging.com/ ).

Neurophotonics seminars
  • February 3rd, 2012:
    Amanda Joe Foust, McCormick Laboratory, Yale University;
    High Signal-to-Noise Ratio Single Cell Voltage Imaging: A Powerful Tool for Determining the Electrophysiological Properties of CNS Axons
  • February 24th, 2012:
    Adrien Cheng, Allen Institute for Brain Science, Seattle;
    Multiple Beams for Multiphoton Imaging
  • March 9th, 2012:
    Sylvain Gigan, Institut Langevin, Ondes et Images, ESPCI, Paris. Wave front control in scattering media: from aberrations to multiple diffusion
  • March 12th, 2012:
    Adam Packer, Neural Computation Laboratory, UCL, London
    Probing neural connectivity at single cell resolution with two photon microscopy
  • May 4th, 2012:
    Jean Pierre Huignard, Institut Langevin, ESPCI, Paris.
    L'optique nonlinéaire et l' holographie dynamique pour le traitement des faisceaux lasers
  • May 16th, 2012:
    Monika Ritsch-Marte, Division for Biomedical Physics, Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, Innsbruck Medical University, Austria.
    Advancing light microscopy with liquid-crystal-based spatial light modulators
  • June 15th, 2012:
    Isabelle Robert-Philip, LPN (Laboratoire de Photonique et de Nanostructures), Marcoussis, France.
  • June 8th, 2012:
    Andrew Leifer, Samuel's lab, Harvard University;
    Optogenetic manipulation of neural activity in freely moving Caenorhabditis elegans
  • June 22th, 2012:
    Sandrine Leveque Fort, ISMO (Institut des Sciences Moléculaires d'Orsay), Orsay, France.

Networks
Financing
  • ESF and CNRS, through the EURYI (European Young Investigator) Award 2005 (http://www.esf.org);
  • European Commission FP6 Specific Targeted Project "PHOTOLYSIS" LSHM-CT-2007-037765;
  • FRM (Fondation pour le Recherche Médicale), through the program: "subvention pour l’implantation d’une nouvelle équipe";
  • ENP (Paris School of Neuroscience) (http://www.paris-neuroscience.fr/enp), through the program: "collaborative projects";
  • FRM (Fondation pour le Recherche Médicale), through the program: "FRM Equipe 2010";
  • HFSP (Human Frontier Science Program);
  • C'nano IdF (Region Ile de France Nanosciences network) (http://www.cnanoidf.org/).