We used the Mightex Polygon to optogenetically inhibit the activity of multiple cortical regions—at the same time—in awake mice. We designed a calibration system to align the illumination to specific regions of cortex, and could synchronize illumination to different parts of a task the mouse was performing. This calibration system is demonstrated in these images. The Mightex system enabled us to target nearly the entirety of dorsal cortex. This causal manipulation was paired with another technique that we developed, COSMOS (see https://sites.google.com/view/getcosmos), which enables simultaneous recording of neural activity across the extent of mouse dorsal cortex. Using COSMOS, we found that there is activity throughout cortex related to the mouse’s task performance; using the Polygon, we could then show that inhibition of multiple cortical regions could disrupt task performance.
Author: Isaac Kauvar, Stanford University
Bio: Isaac received a B.S. in Engineering Physics with a specialty in photonics, an M.S. in Electrical Engineering with a focus on imaging and optimization, and a PhD in Electrical Engineering, all from Stanford. His PhD was coadvised by Karl Deisseroth and Gordon Wetzstein. www.ivk.io
