This summer school will combine an in-depth theoretical coverage with hands-on practicals. The first day will be dedicated to conferences involving world-renowned speakers in the field, in the form of a mini-symposium open to the public. The summer school participants will thus meet some of the leaders in the field and will be provided with an overview of biosensor applications, mainly - but not exclusively - in a neurobiological context.

Then, during 4 days of experimentation led by experienced researchers, the participants will learn the possibilities - and limitations - of the method. After these 5 days, the participants will be able to define the best strategy in the use of biosensors to answer their own scientific question, to select the most adapted scientific tools, to perform the required experiments and interpret the results obtained. In other words, they will acquire a complete autonomy on the use of optical biosensors to answer their biological question.

Day-by-day program

Day 1 (Sunday, August 27th): Participants’ arrival

Day 2 (Monday, August 28th): Mini-symposium on biosensors

(All lecturers confirmed their participation; order and timing may change)

• 9-10 AM: Pierre Vincent (IBPS, Paris): Biosensors, a short history
• 10 AM - 12:30 PM: Examples of the use of biosensors in biology
• 10 AM: Grégoire Vandecasteele (Paris-XI University, Orsay): Compartmentation of cAMP and PKA signaling in cardiomyocytes
• 10:40 AM : Nicolas Gervasi (Institut du Fer à Moulin, Paris): Integration of cAMP signal in neuron’s dendrites
• 11:20 AM: Franck Riquet (Ghent University, Belgium): Studying the spatio-temporal regulation of unperturbed Life and Death cellular processes: Easier said than done!
• 12 PM: Isabelle Limon (IBPS, Paris): Trans-differentiation of smooth muscle cells
• 12:40 PM: Régine Hepp (IBPS, Paris): Use of optogenetic actuator and biosensor for the study of neocortical noradrenergic signaling

1:30 PM - 2:30 PM: Lunch

• 2:30 PM - 4 PM : Susanne Bolte & Jean-François Gilles (IBPS, Paris): Guided visit of the IBPS photonic microscopy platform, and the various instruments which will be used during the week for observation and analyses
• 4:00 PM - 4:45 PM: Oliver Griesbeck (Max Planck Institute of Neurobiology, Munich): Structure and biophysics of fluorescent biosensors
• 4:45 PM - 5:30 PM: Fabienne Mérola (Laboratoire de Chimie Physique, Orsay): Principles and practice of fluorescence-based biosensing
• 5:30 PM - 6:15 PM: François Waharte (Curie Institute, Paris): On data acquisition and the measurement of the fluorescence signal

Evening: Get together event

Days 3 to 6 (Tuesday, August 29th to Friday, September 1st): Hands-on practical

Participants will be divided in four groups to rotate on the following experiments:

Basic principles of biosensor imaging on cell lines and primary cultures:

1) Wide-field ratiometric imaging, setup #1: comparing various biosensors

2) Wide-field ratiometric imaging, setup #2: application to pharmacology

3) Different instruments to record the signal: wide-field vs Nipkov’s disk

4) Different instruments to record the signal: confocal microscopy

Neurobiological applications with brain slice preparations:

5) Bioluminescent biosensing : monitoring the spontaneous neuronal activity in the cortex

6) Wide-field ratiometric imaging, setup #1: are some neuronal phosphodiesterases a novel therapeutic target ?

7) Wide-field ratiometric imaging, setup #2 : the dynamics of dopamine response : stimulation with caged molecules; effects of antipsychotic drugs

8) Two-photon ratiometric imaging: sub-cellular localization of cAMP signals in cortical and striatal neurons

The day-by-day organization will be precised later. It will roughly be as follows:

• 9 AM - 11 AM: Experiments
• 11 AM - 12 PM: Data analysis
• 12 PM - 2 PM: Lunch
• 2 PM - 4 PM: Experiments
• 4 PM - 5 PM: Data analysis
• 5 PM - 6 PM: presentation of the participants projects, preparation of reagents for the next day, etc...

Day 7 (Saturday, September 2nd): Departure