CONTROLLING NEURONS VIA SMARTPHONE
19 October 2020
Optogenetics allows to control cellular function with light. For this, specific genes encoding light-sensitive proteins are expressed in cells, which allows precise activation and inhibition of neurons. The fruit fly (Drosophila melanogaster) is a model organism in genetics and has contributed largely to our understanding of neuronal networks and the role that specific neurons play for behaviour. While neuronal function can be controlled precisely via optogenetics, current light sources for stimulation typically lack resolution, are bulky and expensive. We have now developed a smartphone app that transforms the smartphone display into a light source for optogenetics. Together with researchers from the University of Leipzig, we provide evidence for stimulation of Drosophila larvae using different Channelrhodopsins and addressing various sets of cells. Furthermore, by displaying spatially restricted light patterns, we constrained and guided larvae on the display. The work has been published in Scientific Reports and the smartphone app is available from our Github repository. We recommend trying it in your research and for teaching activities!
LIQUID CRYSTALLINE EMITTERS FOR ORGANIC LIGHT-EMITTING DIODES
15 June 2020
Liquid crystalline (LC) organic semiconductors are known for their self-assembling properties. Despite a number of studies that implemented LC emitters in OLEDs, key photophysical properties were missing so far. In a recent collaboration with the University of St Andrews (UK) and the University of Paderborn (Germany), we studied a columnar liquid crystalline perylene derivative and implemented it in state-of-the-art OLEDs. We found preferential horizontal orientation of the transition dipole moments, which improves OLED outcoupling efficiency. Furthermore, our developed OLEDs reached 10,000 cd/m² at only 5.7 V, which is one of the best performances of columnar LC-OLEDs so far. The work has now been published open access in Advanced Optical Materials.
MEET CAROLINE AT SPIE PHOTONICS EUROPE DIGITAL FORUM
01 April 2020
With the current cancellation of conferences due to COVID-19, SPIE decided to move the Photonics Europe Conference to a digital forum. Join us at this FREE event, which consists of pre-recorded talks during 6-10 April 2020 with the possibility for online Q&A and discussions. Caroline will present our latest developments on OLEDs used for optogenetics and Calcium imaging as well as some brand new results from Ilenia.
OPTICAL COMMUNICATION VIA ORGANIC LEDS
03 March 2020
OLEDs have typically been considered to be slow devices due to their inherently low charge carrier mobility. A collaborative work between the University of St Andrews and the University of Edinburgh with researchers from the organophotonic sensing lab have now developed OLEDs that achieve record data rates above 1 Gbps. The article, published in Nature Communications, outlines the design strategy and potential application in visible light communications.
MEET US AT ICO CONFERENCE IN DRESDEN
23 Jan 2020
Submit an abstract to the 25th Congress of the International Commission for Optics (ICO) or the 16th International Conference on Optics Within Life Sciences (OWLS).
Check out the list of speakers, which includes three Nobel laureates! The conference will take place in Dresden, Germany, from Aug 31st to Sep 4th, 2020.
Deadline for abstract submission: March 12th, 2020
OLEDS WITH EXTREMELY HIGH BRIGHTNESS DEVELOPED
20 Jan 2020
In our recent paper, published in Advanced Optical Materials, we show our development towards extremely bright blue OLEDs. Using a fluorescent blue emitter, doped charge transport layers, optimizing layer structure and device dimensions, we reached 132,000 cd/m² and 2.4 mW/mm² optical power output at only 5 V. This opens new possibilities for OLEDs in applications that require high brightness such as biomedical devices, optical communication, or outdoor displays.
NARROWBAND ORGANIC LIGHT‐EMITTING DIODES FOR FLUORESCENCE MICROSCOPY AND CALCIUM IMAGING
05 Sep 2019
In our latest paper, published in Advanced Materials, we show for the first time that organic light‐emitting diodes (OLEDs) can be used as light source for fluorescence microscopy. We use spectral multiplexing to enable high contrast, which results in fluorescence images of live cells with similar image quality to conventional illumination. Furthermore, we applied the device to recording neuronal activity in Drosophila melanogaster at video rates.
