Gero Miesenböck
Austrian neuroscientist (born 1965)
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Through Physiology, Neuron and Cellular respiration
Education and early life
A native of Austria, Miesenböck was educated at the University of Innsbruck and Umeå University in Sweden. He graduated sub auspiciis praesidentis rei publicae from the University of Innsbruck Medical School. Following his Doctor of Medicine (MD) in 1993, he undertook postdoctoral training with James Rothman.
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Research and career
Optogenetics
Miesenböck is known as the founder of optogenetics. He was the first scientist to modify nerve cells genetically so that their electrical activity could be controlled with light. This involved inserting DNA for light-responsive opsin proteins into the cells. Miesenböck used similar genetic modifications to breed animals whose brains contained light-responsive nerve cells integrated into their circuitry, and was the first to demonstrate that the behavior of these animals could be remote-controlled.
The principle of optogenetic control established by Miesenböck has been widely adopted, generalized to other biological systems, and technically improved.
Sleep and mitochondria
Miesenböck's studies in Drosophila melanogaster (fruit flies) point to aerobic metabolism as a root cause of sleep. He discovered that sleep-inducing neurons estimate sleep need by monitoring the flow of electrons through their mitochondria. Sleep loss creates an imbalance between electron supply and ATP demand that diverts electrons from the respiratory chain into side reactions with molecular oxygen, producing reactive oxygen species which fragment the polyunsaturated fatty acyl chains of membrane lipids. Sleep-control neurons use a redox-active potassium channel subunit to count the release of lipid peroxidation products and transduce this signal into sleep. Miesenböck's work has thus furnished a molecular interpretation of sleep pressure, uncovered the cellular processes responsible for its accumulation and discharge, and identified aerobic metabolism as a fundamental cause of sleep.
Before being appointed to the Waynflete Professorship in 2007, Miesenböck held faculty positions at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center and Yale University. In 2011 he became founding director of the Center for Neural Circuits and Behavior.