Understanding how the brain works is one of the grand scientific challenges of our times and constitutes a priority research line for the European Union. In this context, the use of light is becoming more important for the study of the brain with each passing day. By using light we have today the possibility of inducing and imaging neural activity in entire brain regions. However, to really decrypt the neural code we now need to understand how individual neurons collaborate together to build up a local brain circuit as well as how the spatial and temporal organisation of neural activity at the single cell level influences brain computation. Such complex biological problem demands more advanced optical methods capable of precisely targeting hundreds of neurons at will with high spatio-temporal precision and in the desired, even few mm deep, brain region.
To overcome these problems this project was organised around two main objectives: (1) the development of an advanced optical method capable of precisely targeting hundreds of neurons in the mouse brain simultaneously; (2) the development of a new generation of optical micro-endoscopes capable of reaching deep regions of the mouse brain while maintaining precise optical targeting. With these two objectives achieved we are now in a position of using the novel optical methods, and especially the micro-endoscope, to study deep neural circuits in the mouse brain, such as fear circuits in the mouse amygdala, or deep visual circuits.
The mouse brain can serve as a model to study certain neural circuits and formulate hypothesis on how the human brain function. The optical developments carried out during this project will definitely help understanding neural circuits at a depth and with a precision so far unattainable.
