NSF Award
0090826
The cell was discovered in the C17th by the Dutch scientist van Leeuwenhoek<br/>when he invented the microscope. The use of lenses and microscopes to make<br/>scientific observations has had a profound effect on man's history and his<br/>understanding. The discoveries of Galileo, Newton and Einstein are the best<br/>examples of this. The 1990s were declared the decade of the brain and by<br/>coincidence, in 1990 a new microscope was invented which allowed scientists<br/>to see far deeper and more clearly into (brain) tissue than ever before.<br/>This grant is concerned with the development of new chemical compounds that<br/>will exploit the unique advantages of this microscope for the very first<br/>time. Specifically, we will use organic chemistry to make the<br/>neurotransmitters that are biologically inert until they are activated by<br/>light. These molecules can be used to release the neurotransmitter deep<br/>inside cells and so stimulate a single synapse in the brain in a<br/>reproducible and precisely controlled way. The synapse is the basic unit of<br/>all the electrical circuits in the brain. The ability to use these chemicals<br/>to stimulate single synapses in living brains (from mammals such as rats or<br/>mice) will allow us to start to develop realistic theories of the basic<br/>molecular and cellular mechanisms which underlie neuronal network formation,<br/>learning and memory.
