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Brian Chow

[Web: http://syntheticneurobiology.org/] [Email: bchow, followed by @media.mit.edu] [Phone: N/A]

Brian Chow, during his time in the lab as a postdoctoral fellow, developed new molecular and physical tools to control excitable cells, including genetically targetable, light-activated neural activity silencers. Earlier, he received his Ph.D. from MIT, inventing a platform for optically synthesizing DNA microarrays by leveraging semiconductor photoelectrochemistry. Prior to MIT, Brian received his B.S. Chemistry from Stanford University and worked as an engineer at IBM Storage Systems Division. Currently he assists with a number of special projects.

Projects

Optogenetic hardware and systems for control of neural circuits and biological functions with light
Recording and data analysis technologies for observing and analyzing neural circuit dynamics
Optogenetic molecular reagents enabling control of the activity of targeted neurons and biological functions with light

Publications

Joo, J., Chow, B. Y., Prakash, M., Boyden, E. S., Jacobson, J. M. (2011) Face-selective electrostatic control of hydrothermal zinc oxide nanowire synthesis, Nature Materials, 10(8):596-601.
Chow, B. Y. and Boyden, E. S. (2011) Synthetic Physiology, Science 332(6037):1508-1509.
Chow, B. Y., Chuong, A. S., Klapoetke, N. C., Boyden, E. S. (2011) Synthetic Physiology: Strategies for Adapting Tools from Nature for Genetically-Targeted Control of Fast Biological Processes, Chapter 18, Methods in Enzymology: Synthetic Biology, Part A: Methods for Part/Device Characterization and Chassis Engineering, edited by Christopher Voigt, Volume 497, Elsevier.
Han, X.*, Chow, B. Y.*, Zhou, H., Klapoetke, N. C., Chuong, A., Rajimehr, R., Yang, A., Baratta, M. V., Winkle, J., Desimone, R., Boyden, E. S. (2011) A high-light sensitivity optical neural silencer: development and application to optogenetic control of non-human primate cortex. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. 5:18. doi: 10.3389/fnsys.2011.00018 (* co-first authors)
Chow, B. Y., Han, X., Bernstein, J. G., Monahan, P. E., Boyden, E. S. (2011) Light-Activated Ion Pumps and Channels for Temporally Precise Optical Control of Activity in Genetically Targeted Neurons, Chapter 6, Photosensitive Molecules for Controlling Biological Function, edited by James J. Chambers and Richard H. Kramer, Neuromethods Series Volume 55, 2011, DOI: 10.1007/978-1-61779-031-7, Humana Press.
Boyden, E. S. and Chow, B. Y. (2010) "Defining An Algorithm For Inventing From Nature." Column, Technology Review. 1/19/2010.
Chow, B. Y.*, Han, X.*, Dobry, A. S., Qian, X., Chuong, A. S., Li, M., Henninger, M. A., Belfort, G. M., Lin, Y., Monahan, P. E., Boyden, E. S. (2010) High-performance genetically targetable optical neural silencing by light- driven proton pumps, Nature 463:98-102. (* co-first authors)
Chow B, Han X, Qian X and Boyden E (2009). High-performance halorhodopsin variants for improved genetically-targetable optical neural silencing. Frontiers in Systems Neuroscience. Conference Abstract: Computational and systems neuroscience. doi: 10.3389/conf.neuro.10.2009.03.347

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