Medical Engineering Distinguished Seminar Series, Professor Chunlei Liu

Magnetogenetics loosely refers to a group of emerging techniques that apply static or alternating magnetic fields to control cell activity via interactions with cell membrane proteins. One approach to magnetogenetics uses radiofrequency (RF) waves to activate transient receptor potential channels (e.g. TRPV1 and TRPV4) that are coupled to cellular ferritins, an endogenous iron storage protein. Using the magnetogenetic technique named FeRIC (Ferritin iron Redistribution to Ion Channels), I will describe our work to characterize the effect of RF stimulation on intracellular calcium signaling and membrane electrical properties in neurons and astrocytes. I will also present our data that point towards a biochemical pathway underlying the activation mechanism. This mechanism led us to design approaches to activate endogenous ion channels without genetically expressing ion channels, thus avoid perturbing normal cellular ion homeostasis. Both in vitro and in vivo experiments will be presented to evaluate the approaches and applications.

Biography: Chunlei Liu is Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences and a Professor in the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at University of California, Berkeley. He is co-Director of the Berkeley's Brain Imaging Center, which houses two 3T MRI scanners and a NexGen 7T MRI scanner. He received a B.S. degree in Physics from Peking University, an M.S. degree in Physics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Ph.D. degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University. His research focuses on Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) and cell stimulation. He is a Fellow of the ISMRM and Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE).

https://www2.eecs.berkeley.edu/Faculty/Homepages/chunleiliu.html

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