Boyden and colleagues: millisecond optical control of neural activity

What changed

Demonstrated genetically targeted expression of channelrhodopsin-2 in neurons and millisecond-timescale control of neuronal spiking with light.

Scientific scope

The record is the exact 2005 Nature Neuroscience technical report. Prior microbial-opsin discoveries, later naming and expansion of optogenetics, in-vivo applications and other optical actuators remain separate.

Evidence

The linked sources identify this contribution and its scope. WRS has not independently reconstructed the scientific claims. The record is the exact 2005 Nature Neuroscience technical report. Prior microbial-opsin discoveries, later naming and expansion of optogenetics, in-vivo applications and other optical actuators remain separate.

Contributors

• Edward S. Boyden · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• Feng Zhang · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• Ernst Bamberg · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• Georg Nagel · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.
• Karl Deisseroth · SCIENCE: Named source author of the scoped work; individual effort shares are not measured.

• Boyden and colleagues, optical control of neural activity
• Crossref record for optical neural control

Provisional WRS assessment, edition 2026-10-16.1. Independent expert calibration is pending. This grade does not certify correctness or assign ownership.

Full scientific record · Browse contribution grades · Request a correction