Genetic Engineering of Mammalian Sensory Circuits

光遗传学已成为控制神经元活动的有力工具，具有很高的时空精度。我们是第一个开发光遗传学策略来选择性地激活小鼠中涉及伤害感觉和疼痛的遗传定义的外周体感觉神经元的人（Daou et al., 2013）。在这项为期5年的研究计划中，我们建议设计和验证条件转基因模型，用于在体感觉回路中作用不明确的神经元亚群的功能询问。

Optogenetics has emerged as a powerful tool to control neuronal activity with high spatio-temporal precision. We were the first to develop optogenetic strategies to activate selectively genetically-defined peripheral somatosensory neurons involved in nociception and pain in mice (Daou et al., 2013). In this 5-year research program, we propose to design and validate conditional transgenic models for the functional interrogation of neuronal subsets with unclear roles in somatosensory circuits.