Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 19, 2026
Bioluminescent Optogenetics 2.0: Harnessing Bioluminescence to Activate Photosensory Proteins In Vitro and In Vivo
Published on: August 4, 2021
Near-Infrared Optogenetic Genome Engineering Based on Photon-Upconversion Hydrogels
Yoichi Sasaki1, Mio Oshikawa2, Pankaj Bharmoria1
1Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Graduate School of Engineering, Center for Molecular Systems (CMS), Kyushu University, 744 Moto-oka, Nishi-ku, Fukuoka, 819-0395, Japan.
Abstract:
Photon upconversion (UC) from near-infrared (NIR) light to visible light has enabled optogenetic manipulations in deep tissues. However, materials for NIR optogenetics have been limited to inorganic UC nanoparticles. Herein, NIR-light-triggered optogenetics using biocompatible, organic TTA-UC hydrogels is reported. To achieve triplet sensitization even in highly viscous hydrogel matrices, a NIR-absorbing complex is covalently linked with energy-pooling acceptor chromophores, which significantly elongates the donor triplet lifetime. The donor and acceptor are solubilized in hydrogels formed from biocompatible Pluronic F127 micelles, and heat treatment endows the excited triplets in the hydrogel with remarkable oxygen tolerance. Combined with photoactivatable Cre recombinase technology, NIR-light stimulation successfully performs genome engineering resulting in the formation of dendritic-spine-like structures of hippocampal neurons.
