2014 Early Career UCL Investigator in Neuroimaging Techniques elected
by Mary Tighe
Managing Director (Brain Vision UK Ltd)
On the 8th of September 2015 Dr Adam Packer became the UCL CNT winner of the 2014 Early Career Investigator in Neuroimaging Techniques Award. This award is sponsored by Brain Products GmbH and consists of a cheque for £500, a trophy and a certificate.
As a postdoc in Professor Michael Hausser’s lab at UCL, Adam has developed a new approach for combining 2-photon imaging and 2-photon optogenetics to both read out and manipulate the activity of neural circuits in the intact mammalian brain. This has been a longstanding dream of many neuroscientists interested in using optogenetics to interrogate neural circuits during behaviour with single-cell precision. Adam’s approach has recently been published in a paper in the prestigious journal Nature Methods.
The method has generated a great deal of interest, both from neuroscientists and microscopy companies, and, it is anticipated that many labs world-wide may be interested in implementing this approach. Reacting to the news of the award, Michael said “I’m delighted by this recognition of Adam’s fantastic achievement. This ‘all-optical’ strategy should allow us to do some really exciting new experiments.”
Adam is the annual award’s 8th winner and this year 5 candidates were put forward. The award was presented to him at an event held in UCL on the 8th of September 2015. The occasion was marked by a guest lecture delivered by Dr Rafel Yueste (Columbia University) and was followed by a drinks reception.
We at Brain Vision UK along with Brain Products GmbH, congratulate Adam for this great achievement and wish him much success in the future.