Optics and the Brain

Optics offers a unique toolkit for multiscale imaging and manipulating the living and intact brain. New strategies provide optical measures of neural function and tools such as optogenetics enables the control of cellular function with light. Novel methods also enable unraveling the molecular, genetic, structural and connective properties of the nervous system from super-resolution to whole organism scales. By bringing together an international group of leading engineers, optical and medical scientists, biologists, chemists, neuroscientists and physicians, the meeting reflects this topic’s highly interdisciplinary area of research. This conference will bring together researchers working in all aspects of optics in the brain in both model systems and humans and will serve as a forum for discussion of existing and emerging techniques as well as future directions capable of shedding new light on the healthy and diseased brain.