Recording Electricity in the Brain

ASAP-family fluorescent voltage indicators

We leverage our experience with the chemistry and physics of fluorescent proteins to develop new methods for visualizing the electrical activity of the brain. Our ASAP family of genetically encoded voltage indicators (GEVIs) that uniquely combine bright fluorescence, large responses to voltage changes, and fast kinetics.

Our latest ASAPs have the following capabilities:

• Detection of single action potentials with similar relative fluorescence changes as widely used calcium indicators

• Millisecond-level time resolution – an order of magnitude faster than calcium indicators

• Reporting of subthreshold electrical activity

• Reporting of multiple neurons in living mice under both 1-photon and two-photon microscopy over minutes

We are further improving ASAPs and using them to understand the electrical basis of neurological diseases. Together with collaborators, we also use ASAPs to decipher neuronal and circuit computations during learning.