MIA: Sami Farhi, Optical Profiling Platform; Adam Cohen, Optical neuroscience’s new comp. challenges

Models, Inference and Algorithms October 23, 2019 Meeting:    • MIA: Sami Farhi, Optical Profiling Platfor...   Sami Farhi Regev Lab, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard New Imaging Data Types and Computational Challenges at the Optical Profiling Platform The Optical Profiling Platform (OPP) at the Broad Institute aims to translate promising imaging methods from their inventors’ labs to the broader biological research community. The initial technique portfolio includes highly-multiplexed antigen detection, spatially resolved transcriptomics, and all-optical electrophysiology, each to be implemented in a variety of model systems. These tools offer unique, high-throughput portraits of cell identity and functional state but require advances in hardware capabilities; wetlab and measurement protocols; and, crucially, in computational infrastructure. I will discuss our progress on the experimental front while highlighting the analysis and engineering challenges involved in processing, interpreting, and integrating the resulting data. Adam Cohen Cohen Lab; Dept of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Harvard University Primer: Computational challenges in optical electrophysiology Recent advances in voltage imaging have opened the door to high-speed recordings of neural activity. In combination with spatially patterned optogenetic stimulation, one can measure the response of a neural circuit to nearly arbitrary spatiotemporal input patterns. These tools have been applied to studies on cultured neurons (primary and human stem cell-derived) in models of health and disease; to recordings of circuit dynamics in awake, behaving mice and fish; and to measurements on engineered cell lines. With the incredible power of these tools comes great computational challenges. I will describe some of the challenges associated with segmenting, classifying, and interpreting optical electrophysiology data. For more information on the Broad Institute and MIA visit: http://www.broadinstitute.org/MIA Copyright Broad Institute, 2019. All rights reserved.