Gero Miesenböck

Gero Miesenböck is Waynflete Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Magdalen College.^[1] A native of Austria, he received his M.D. from the University of Innsbruck and undertook postdoctoral training with James Rothman.^[2] Before coming to Oxford, he held faculty appointments at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center^[3] and Yale University.^[4]

Miesenböck is the founder of the emerging field of optogenetics.^[5][6] He has developed genetic strategies for visualizing and controlling nerve cells with light. He has invented several methods, including genetically targeted photostimulation of neurons and optical imaging of neurotransmission with synapto-pHluorin, a derivative of the green fluorescent protein.^[7][8]

Miesenböck’s research on optogenetics and the nervous system of the fruit fly details the structure and function of neural circuits responsible for sensory processing, action selection, and motor pattern generation.

References