One of the real challenges for the Institute going forward is to leverage our current imaging technologies for scientific discovery while at the same time, taking the calculated risks on what the next significant technologies will be for the field.
In the area of simple system models (like Alpysia or Drosophila), one of the huge challenges has been to create a functional map of the entire nervous system. Here is one approach that I think might be fruitful. I’ve always been interested in the aequoerin as a calcium reporter because it signals with a photon in the visual spectrum at very high temporal resolution. It always seemed like it might be an ideal way to look at the activation of protein kinase C (which typically needs Ca2+ for activation) at high levels of temporal resolution within living cells.
Jim
Discoverers and Discoveries 