Group Seminar at MPQ & via Zoom: Smart microscopy: automated control of cellular activity in space and time

Jakob Schröder, Utrecht University
Group Seminar in MPQ group room & via video conference (Zoom)
Thursday, May 19, 9:30 am (MEZ)

Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, the group seminar will be a hybrid event, allowing participants to attend the seminar virtually and in-person. This procedure enables us to continue our research, enhance discussions and exchange important information.

Abstract:

Cellular activity can be controlled with light-induced stimulation of molecular processes through engineered photoreceptor proteins. While these optogenetic tools have been used mainly ‘ad hoc’, we aimed to integrate them into a feedback system that uses live microscopy images as a readout of the system and automatically adjusts the light stimulations accordingly. For this a software interface was developed to interface microscope and spatial light modulator and steer the experiment based on predefined control schemes. This flexible interface was used to control cell migration and nuclear protein export. The used control algorithms proved effective. This work shows the viability of feedback control of cellular activity which can be used to steer and automate cell biology experiments.

If you would like to join our group seminar via Zoom, please contact us for more information.