Gero Miesenböck
| Gero Miesenböck | |
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Gero Andreas Miesenböck in 2015
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| Born | Gero Andreas Miesenböck 15 July 1965 |
| Fields | Neuroscience |
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| Known for | Optogenetics |
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Website www |
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Gero Andreas Miesenböck (born 1965)FRS is Waynflete Professor of Physiology and Director of the Centre for Neural Circuits and Behaviour (CNCB) at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Magdalen College, Oxford.
A native of Austria, Miesenböck was educated at the University of Innsbruck and Umeå University in Sweden. He graduated sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae from the University of Innsbruck Medical School. Following his Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 1991, he undertook postdoctoral training with James Rothman.
Miesenböck is known for his research on optogenetics. He was the first scientist to modify nerve cells genetically so that their electrical activity could be controlled with light. This involved inserting DNA for light-responsive opsin proteins into the cells. Miesenböck used similar genetic modifications to breed animals whose brains contained light-responsive nerve cells integrated into their circuitry, and was the first to demonstrate that the behavior of these animals could be remote-controlled.
The principle of optogenetic control established by Miesenböck has been widely adopted, generalized to other biological systems, and technically improved. Most of Miesenböck's work continues to be done with Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies), where it is possible to gain detailed insight into molecular, cellular, and physiological mechanisms of brain function that may relate to human health.
Before being appointed to the Waynflete Professorship in 2007, Miesenböck held faculty positions at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Yale University.
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