Optogenetics: Basic Concepts and Their Development

The discovery of light-gated ion channels and their application to controlling neural activities have had a transformative impact on the field of neuroscience. In recent years, the concept of using light-activated proteins to control biological processes has greatly diversified into other fields, driven by the natural diversity of photoreceptors and decades of knowledge obtained from their biophysical characterization. In this chapter, we will briefly discuss the origin and development of optogenetics and highlight the basic concepts that make it such a powerful technology. We will review how these enabling concepts have developed over the past decade, and discuss future perspectives.