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Optogenetic Manipulation Of Neural Activity In Freely Moving Caenorhabditis Elegans, Andrew Leifer, Christopher Fang-Yen, Marc Gershow, Mark Alkema, Aravinthan Samuel

Christopher Fang-Yen

We present an optogenetic illumination system capable of real-time light delivery with high spatial resolution to specified targets in freely moving Caenorhabditis elegans. A tracking microscope records the motion of an unrestrained worm expressing channelrhodopsin-2 or halorhodopsin in specific cell types. Image processing software analyzes the worm's position in each video frame, rapidly estimates the locations of targeted cells and instructs a digital micromirror device to illuminate targeted cells with laser light of the appropriate wavelengths to stimulate or inhibit activity. Because each cell in an unrestrained worm is a rapidly moving target, our system operates at high speed ( …