High resolution optical approaches to study dendritic signaling

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To understand how the brain works, we must learn how its components, the brain cells and particularly the neurons, transmit information and communicate. The main sites of neurotransmission are the billions of tiny synapses. Great progress toward understanding synaptic transmission has been made through the identification of the molecular components of synapses as well as the electrochemical nature of synaptic signals. However, for the majority of these components and signals, much remains unknown about how they operate and interact during neurotransmission. To fully understand how synapses work, we need to resolve their molecular components and elementary signals within living neural circuits and to monitor them at length and time scales relevant to neurotransmission. Because synapses are so tiny (<1/1000 of a millimeter), we must push the limits of spatial resolution of our microscopes. Because neuronal communication is so rapid (milliseconds), we must also push our imaging to fast speed. Thus our efforts are focussed on the optimization of microscopy methods to understand how molecules inside neurons respond to and translate the electrical activity of neurons.