Gero Miesenböck

Gero Miesenböck

Gero Miesenböck in 2015
Born Gero Andreas Miesenböck
(1965-07-15) July 15, 1965[1][2]
Fields Neuroscience
Institutions
Alma mater
Known for Optogenetics
Notable awards
BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2015)[8]
Website
www.cncb.ox.ac.uk/the-science/research-groups/miesenboeck-group/

Gero Miesenböck FRS[6] is Waynflete Professor of Physiology and Director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour (CNCB)[9] at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.

Education and early life

A native of Austria,[2] Miesenböck was educated at the University of Innsbruck and Umeå University in Sweden.[1] He graduated sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae[2] from the University of Innsbruck Medical School. Following his MD in 1991,[10] he undertook postdoctoral training with James Rothman.[11][12]

Research and career

Miesenböck originated the experimental approach now known as optogenetics.[13][14][15][16][17][18] He was the first scientist to modify nerve cells genetically so that their electrical activity could be controlled with light.[13] This involved inserting DNA for light-responsive opsin proteins into the cells.[13] Miesenböck used similar genetic modifications to breed animals whose brains contained light-responsive nerve cells integrated into their circuitry, and was the first to demonstrate that the behavior of these animals could be remote-controlled.[14][17][19]

The principle of optogenetic control established by Miesenböck[13][14] has been widely adopted, generalized to other biological systems, and technically improved.[20][21][22] Most of Miesenböck's work continues to be done with Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies), where it is possible to gain detailed insight into molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms of brain function that may relate to human health.[23]

Before being appointed to the Waynflete Professorship in 2007, Miesenböck held faculty positions at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Yale University.

Awards and honors

In 2012 Miesenböck was awarded the InBev-Baillet Latour International Health Prize[3] for "pioneering optogenetic approaches to manipulate neuronal activity and to control animal behaviour" . In 2013 he shared the Brain Prize[4] with Ernst Bamberg, Edward Boyden, Karl Deisseroth, Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel, and the Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine[5] with Edward Boyden and Karl Deisseroth. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2015.[24] His certificate of election reads:

“ Gero Miesenboeck pioneered the science of optogenetics. He established the principles of optogenetic control in 2002, using rhodopsin to activate normally light-insensitive neurons. He was the first to use optogenetics to control behaviour. These seminal experiments have provided a platform for an explosion in optogenetic applications. Recent honours testify to the significance of these findings. Miesenboeck has exploited optogenetics in a succession of brilliant experiments illuminating synaptic connectivity, the neural basis of reward, mechanisms of sleep homeostasis and the control of sexually dimorphic circuitry. These incisive contributions to neuroscience have demonstrated the full potential of optogenetics beyond the proof-of-principle stage.[25] ”

In 2015 he received the Heinrich Wieland Prize[7] "for his breakthrough concept of optogenetics and its proof of principle."

Miesenböck was elected a member of the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO) in 2008,[26] and a member of the Academy of Medical Sciences, United Kingdom in 2012,[1] and the Austrian Academy of Sciences.[27]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 MIESENBÖCK, Prof. Gero. Who's Who 2015 (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription required)
  2. 1 2 3 "Curriculum vitae: Gero Miesenböck, M.D" (PDF). inbevbailletlatour.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-06-10.
  3. 1 2 "Le Prix de la Santé". Fondsbailletlatour.com. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  4. 1 2 "Prize Winners 2013 – Grete Lundbeck European Brain Research Foundation". Thebrainprize.org. 2015-09-15. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  5. 1 2 "Past Winners | Gabbay Award | Rosenstiel Basic Medical Sciences Research Center | Brandeis University". Brandeis.edu. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  6. 1 2 "Professor Gero Miesenböck FMedSci FRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07.
  7. 1 2 "Heinrich Wieland Prize – Heinrich Wieland Prize – Homepage". Heinrich-wieland-prize.de. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  8. ↑ "BBVA Awards – 2015 Laureates". Fbbva.es. Retrieved 2016-03-01.
  9. ↑ "Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour, University of Oxford".
  10. ↑ Miesenböck, Gero Andreas (1991). Relationship of Triglyceride and High Density Lipoprotein Metabolism (MD thesis). University of Innsbruck.
  11. ↑ Miesenbock, G.; Rothman, J. E. (1997). "Patterns of synaptic activity in neural networks recorded by light emission from synaptolucins". Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 94 (7): 3402. doi:10.1073/pnas.94.7.3402.
  12. ↑ Miesenböck, G.; De Angelis, D. A.; Rothman, J. E. (1998). "Visualizing secretion and synaptic transmission with pH-sensitive green fluorescent proteins". Nature 394 (6689): 192–195. doi:10.1038/28190. PMID 9671304.
  13. 1 2 3 4 Zemelman, B. V.; Lee, G. A.; Ng, M.; Miesenböck, G. (2002). "Selective photostimulation of genetically chARGed neurons". Neuron 33 (1): 15–22. doi:10.1016/S0896-6273(01)00574-8. PMID 11779476.
  14. 1 2 3 Lima, S. Q.; Miesenböck, G. (2005). "Remote control of behavior through genetically targeted photostimulation of neurons". Cell 121 (1): 141–152. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2005.02.004. PMID 15820685.
  15. ↑ Miesenböck, G. (2008). "Lighting up the brain". Scientific American 299 (4): 52–59. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican1008-52. PMID 18847085.
  16. ↑ Miesenböck, G. (2009). "The optogenetic catechism". Science 326 (5951): 395–399. doi:10.1126/science.1174520. PMID 19833960.
  17. 1 2 "Gero Miesenboeck: Re-engineering the brain | TED Talk". TED.com. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
  18. ↑ Zimmer, Carl. "An Off-or-On Switch for Controlling Animals?". New York Times. Retrieved 12 April 2005.
  19. ↑ Boyden, E. S.; Zhang, F.; Bamberg, E.; Nagel, G.; Deisseroth, K. (2005). "Millisecond-timescale, genetically targeted optical control of neural activity". Nature Neuroscience 8 (9): 1263–1268. doi:10.1038/nn1525. PMID 16116447.
  20. ↑ Wells, W. A. (2007). "Gero Miesenböck: Instructing the nervous system". The Journal of Cell Biology 177 (3): 374–375. doi:10.1083/jcb.1773pi. PMC: 2064810. PMID 17485485.
  21. ↑ Miesenböck, G. (2011). "Optogenetic control of cells and circuits". Annu. Rev. Cell Dev. Biol. 27: 731–758. doi:10.1146/annurev-cellbio-100109-104051. PMC: 3759011. PMID 21819234.
  22. ↑ Claridge-Chang, A.; Roorda, R. D.; Vrontou, E.; Sjulson, L.; Li, H.; Hirsh, J.; Miesenböck, G. (2009). "Writing memories with light-addressable reinforcement circuitry". Cell 139 (2): 405–415. doi:10.1016/j.cell.2009.08.034. PMID 19837039.
  23. ↑ "Professor Gero Miesenböck FMedSci FRS". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07.
  24. ↑ "Certificate of election EC/2015/29: Miesenbock, Gero". London: Royal Society. Archived from the original on 2015-10-07.
  25. ↑ "EMBO MEMBER: Gero Miesenböck". European Molecular Biology Organization. 2016. Archived from the original on 2016-02-03.
  26. ↑ Gero Miesenböck. "Korrespondierende Mitglieder der mathematisch-naturwissenschaftlichen Klasse im Ausland". Oeaw.ac.at. Retrieved 2015-11-06.
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