Applications

Applications of Luminos bidirectional microscopy tools.

Optopatch in cultured neurons

Simultaneous optogenetic stimulation and voltage imaging in cultured primary rat hippocampal neurons. Luminos instruments can stimulate and record from > 1,000 neurons simultaneously. Luminos has transgenic mice which can provide genetically targeted neuron sub-types for experiments in brain slice or in culture. Luminos also has stable Optopatch hiPSC lines which can be differentiated into a variety of human cell types, including neurons and cardiomyocytes.

Ref. 1

Layer 1 cortical dynamics in vivo

Optopatch recordings of dynamics in Layer 1 interneurons in a behaving mouse. These neurons co-expressed CheRiff and Voltron2-JF608. The neurons were imaged via cell-targeted orange illumination for voltage imaging. Cell-targeted blue illumination was used for optogenetic stimulation.

Mapping the first heartbeats

The Luminos platform revealed the first heartbeats in developing zebrafish embryos expressing a genetically encoded calcium indicator.

Ref. 2

Optogenetic control of Nodal signaling in zebrafish development

Light-sensitive activators of the Nodal signaling pathway can sculpt the trajectories of zebrafish embryonic development.

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Photoclick labeling in vivo

Using photoclick labeling, stripes of fluorescent dye were patterned on zebrafish embryos. As the embryos grew, the morphing of the stripes showed the patterns of tissue deformation.

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Photochemical tagging of targeted cells

Using photo-click chemistry, individual cells were labeled with distinct combinations of three dyes, leading to 7 different labeling combinations.

Ref. 4

References

Hochbaum, Daniel R., et al. "All-optical electrophysiology in mammalian neurons using engineered microbial rhodopsins." Nature Methods 11.8 (2014): 825-833.
Jia, Bill Z., et al. "A bioelectrical phase transition patterns the first vertebrate heartbeats." Nature 622.7981 (2023): 149-155.
McNamara, Harold M., et al. "Optogenetic control of Nodal signaling patterns." Development 152.9 (2025): dev204506.
Innes-Gold, Sarah, et al. "Tools for intersectional optical and chemical tagging on cell surfaces." ACS Chemical Biology 20.2 (2025): 455-463.