Genetically-encoded fluorescent biosensors are chimeric proteins designed to report a specific biological signal by a change in fluorescence properties, which can be monitored in real time in living cells by optical microscopy. For example, biosensors can report the changes in intracellular signaling molecules, like calcium or cyclic nucleotides, in response to neuronal activity, activation of membrane receptors or application of drugs. Biosensor imaging allows to quantitate with high temporal resolution and at the level of individual cells the fleeting signaling events triggered by various stimuli.

Biosensors have considerably improved over the recent years and can now be routinely used in cultured cell lines up to brain slices. The IBPS summer school will combine the high-end imaging tools available at the IBPS imaging platform with those available in local research teams (confocal, spinning-disk, two-photon, bioluminescence...) with a panel of 3rd generation FRET biosensors to analyze intracellular signaling events in cultured cells and neurons in brain slices. This approach integrates the latest developments in biosensors and cellular imaging to open a novel perspective on the cellular dynamics of signal integration in cells, here in a neurobiological context, but this approach can be applied to virtually any preparation. This summer school aims at teaching participants both the possibilities and limitations of biosensor imaging, so they will be able to best apply this methodological approach to their scientific question.