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Thank you for joining us in Sydney, February 6&7, 2025 for the 4th Optogenetics Australia Meeting!
We thank our delegates, speakers and industry partners for a successful 4th Optogenetics Australia meeting in Sydney (February 6&7, 2025). This meeting featured keynote presentations from both national and international leaders in the field, short invited talks, as well as contributed data blitz talks from early career researchers (including Best Talk Awards)! This in person meeting was followed by a social event, offering additional opportunities to connect and forge new ideas as a platform for Australian and international researchers spanning multiple fields.
Michael Bruchas
University of Washington, USA
Michael Bruchas is a Professor of Anesthesiology and Pharmacology at the University of Washington. His laboratory uses multidisciplinary approaches, incorporating optogenetics, molecular biochemistry, pharmacology, physiology, in vivo imaging, and computational methods to study the neuromodulatory circuits in stress, reward-aversion, addiction, and anxiety-depression. His lab is actively engaged in bioengineering methods to develop optically-sensitive signalling tools and wireless opto-electronics for detecting and modulating neuronal activity in behaving animals.
Gwyneth Card
Columbia University, USA (virtual presentation)
Associate Professor Gwyneth Card is an associate professor of neuroscience at Columbia University and a principal investigator at Columbia’s Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute. She was a group leader at HHMI’s Janelia Research Campus from 2010-2022. Her group has contributed ground-breaking work on the neural circuits mediating escape behaviour in Drosophila, and has done so with an innovative blend of behavioural quantification, genetics, electro physiology, functional imaging, and optogenetics.
Deniz Dalkara
Institut de la vision, France (virtual presentation)
Dr. Deniz Dalkara is a Research Director and molecular biologist at the Institut de la vision in Paris, France who trained at Louis Pasteur and Max Planck Institutes in Europe and the University of Berkeley, USA. Her lab develops tools, focusing on adeno-associated virus (AAV) as a vector for therapeutic gene delivery. Her key interest is in the retina and using genetic treatments and optogenetics to address various challenges that arise during retinal disease. Her contributions have resulted in multiple patents, technology company collaborations and awards, including Ile de France Innovator award 2021, 2021 Medical Research Award for Fondation de France, MIT Technology Review's Innovators Under 35 award and the Euretina Science and Medicine Innovation Award.
Rainer Hedrich
Julius-von-Sachs-Institute of Biosciences, Germany
Professor Rainer Hedrich was the Chair of Molecular Plant Physiology & Biophysics at the prestigious Julius-von-Sachs-Institute of Biosciences at University of Wuerzburg and is currently a keynote professor at Shenzhen University of Advanced Technologies (SUAT). His research pioneered the biology of plant ion channels, providing evidence for their existence that today is part of (plant) biology textbooks. His later studies represent milestones in plant physiology, providing a molecular understanding of plant water balance and the behaviour of carnivore plants. More recently, his work has pioneered the application of optogenetics to plant systems and inspired the formation of a new research field.
Stefan Herlitze
Ruhr University Bochum, Germany
Professor Stefan Herlitze is a professor at the elite Ruhr University Bochum and Head of the Department of Zoology Neurobiology (since 2010). He has pioneered early innovation in optogenetics during his tenure at Case Western Reserve University (2000-2009) and is a candidate for upcoming Nobel Prizes in optogenetics and light-dependent signalling. His groundbreaking work focuses on understanding communication principles in biological systems, ranging from human brain function to rare ‘blinking’ fish species.
Guosong Hong
Stanford University, USA (virtual presentation)
Assistant Professor Guosong Hong received his PhD in chemistry from Stanford University in 2014, and then carried out postdoctoral studies at Harvard University before returning to Stanford to join the Materials Science and Engineering and Neurosciences Institute. His research aims to bridge materials science and neuroscience by developing novel neuroengineering tools that can be used to interrogate and manipulate the brain. His lab is currently developing ultrasound, infrared, and radiofrequency-based in-vivo neural interfaces with minimal invasiveness, high spatiotemporal resolution, and cell-type specificity. Recently the lab explored ways to reversibly render a live mouse body transparent, allowing visualization of a wide range of deep-seated structures and activities.
Yulong Li
Peking University, China
Professor Yulong Li leads a highly successful laboratory renowned for its significant contributions to the development of fluorescent sensors for various neurotransmitters and neuropeptides. These G-protein-coupled receptor-activation-based (GRAB) sensors have been widely adopted by numerous neuroscience laboratories to detect the release of neurotransmitters and neuropeptides both in vivo and in vitro, in response to artificial and natural stimuli. In addition to advancing fluorescence sensor technology for neurotransmitters and neuromodulators, his lab employs proteomic and optical approaches to investigate the roles of neurotransmitters in functional outcomes. Professor Li also contributes to the scientific community as a member of the Advisory Board for the journal Neuron and the Program Committee for the Society for Neuroscience.
Lizzie Manning
University of Newcastle, Australia
Dr. Lizzie Manning is a team leader at the University of Newcastle. She was trained at the University of Melbourne, the Florey Institute of Neuroscience and Mental Health and then the Department of Psychiatry at the University of Pittsburgh. Her work focuses on the neural basis of disturbances in flexible behaviour in OCD and schizophrenia using in vivo calcium imaging, optogenetics, preclinical OCD models and operant cognitive paradigms. Her research program involves partnerships with clinical collaborators to better translate findings from preclinical models and improve our understanding of human brain function and disease.
Alexandre Mourot
INSERM, France (virtual presentation)
Dr. Alexandre Mourot is the Research Director at INSERM (French National Institute of Health and Medical Research). His early research focused on the molecular mechanisms of ion channels and receptors, during which he pioneered the development of photoactivatable ligands and the light-activated nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (nAChRs). Currently, his research centres on understanding cholinergic and dopaminergic signaling in drug addiction. He and his team utilise a multidisciplinary approach; developing opto-chemical tools and integrating them with innovative behavioural approaches, ex vivo and in vivo electrophysiology, and computational modeling.
Matthew Simunovic
University of Sydney, Australia
Professor Matthew Simunovic is a professor of Ophthalmology & Visual Science at the University of Sydney, and a Senior Visiting Medical Officer at Sydney Eye Hospital and the Sydney Children’s Hospitals Network. Prof. Simunovic attended medical school at the University of Cambridge, where he also gained his PhD before completing his specialty surgical training at Sydney Eye Hospital and extensive fellowship training in Canada and the UK. Currently, he heads a group at the Save Sight Institute, University of Sydney, which focuses on laboratory and clinical research aimed at addressing major causes of irreversible sight loss using optogenetics and cell therapy with living donor retinal explants derived from retinal progenitor cells.
