title: Bridging the gaps between synapses, circuits, and behavior.
abstract: The decade of the brain may have come and gone, but the final frontier, cracking the neuronal code, still lies ahead. Today, new technologies that allow precise spatiotemporal remote control over the activity of genetically defined populations of neurons within intact neural circuits are providing a means of obtaining a functional wiring diagram of the mammalian brain, bringing us one step closer to understanding precisely how neuronal activity codes for perception, thought, emotion, and action. These technologies and the design principles underlying them are reviewed herein.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry, University of California, San Francisco, CA 94158, USA. england@picasso.ucsf.edu
authors.forename: Pamela M
authors.initials: PM
authors.lastname: England
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001519:Behavior; D006801:Humans; D008564:Membrane Potentials; D009474:Neurons / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism; D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D013569:Synapses / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D017981:Receptors, Neurotransmitter