User:Kathrin Brenker/Optogenetic Flow Cytometry

Optogenetic Flow Cytometry
Optogenetic Flow Cytometry refers to the analysis of optically controlled substances in a flow cytometer. Optically controlled substances, like e.g. optogenetic tools, are powerful tools to study signaling pathways. They are based on the ability of photoactivatable proteins to change their conformation and binding affinity when illuminated with light. Fusing these proteins to signaling elements allows for the specific regulation of a single player within complex intracellular signaling pathways. Consequently, a signaling pathway can be studied with high temporal and spatial resolution. However, optogenetic research is often limited in the experimental repertoire as there are only a few suitable illumination devices available. A major obstacle is the controlled delivery of light to the cell sample and hence the most popular tools for optogenetic studies are microscopy-based cell analyses and in vitro experiments. The flow cytometer has major advantages over a microscope, including the ability to rapidly measure thousands of cells at single cell resolution. Using highly specialized illumination devices, optogenetic experiments can be analyzed in the flow cytometer. The combination of both technologies is referred to as optogenetic flow cytometry.

Currently, there is only one Spin-off company from the University of Freiburg that offers specialized illumination devices for optogenetic flow cytometry called opto biolabs.