The Stanford Photonics Research Center

Neuroscience

SPRC’s Neuroscience Working Group provides companies with access to Stanford University’s vigorous, multi-departmental research community.
 
The four core faculty members are from the Departments of Chemical Engineering, Psychiatry, Molecular and Cellular Physiology, and Applied Physics and the Biological Sciences. Each faculty member is leading an independent research effort involving numerous graduate students, post-doctoral fellows and visiting scientists.
 
The Neuroscience Working Group specializes in the imaging of live neurons in order to determine the genesis of neuronal circuitry as well as its structure and function. Specialized fluorescent reporter dyes provide in situ measures of key molecules and their dynamic changes in response to neural stimulation. In vivo imaging using custom designed, micro-optical and micromachined probes provides insight into the molecular and cellular basis of learning and memory. A major research focus is the function of neural stem cells and the role of cellular microenvironments for tissue regeneration. The group is interested in therapeutic and diagnostic applications of these techniques with application to neural prosthetic systems, human degenerative diseases, and related neuropathologies.