An Optogenetic Method to Control and Analyze Gene Expression Patterns in Cell-to-cell Interactions

The overall goal of this experiment is to observe cell-to-cell transfer of oscillatory information by optogenetic control and live monitoring of gene expression. This method can help answer key questions of how cells communicate with each other through the Notch signaling pathway, particularly of how cells transmit the oscillatory information to each other. The main advantage of this technique is that we can control and monitor gene expression dynamics with very high precision.

Demonstrating the procedure will be Akihiro Isomura, a research fellow from my laboratory who developed this new technology. To transfect plasmid vectors of Tol2-based optogenetic modules together with the transposase expression vector into C2C12 cells, first count trypsinized cells with a cell counter. Plate 50, 000 C2C12 cells per well in a 12-well plate one day before transfection.