Authors: Flora Liu, MD
IARS Daily Dose, May 3, 2026.
This plenary session from the 2026 Annual Meeting presented by the International Anesthesia Research Society and Society of Critical Care Anesthesiologists highlighted rapidly advancing neurotechnologies that are transforming the ability to analyze, manipulate, and simulate the brain. The session focused on cutting-edge neuroscience tools with implications for anesthesiology, neurobiology, and future brain simulation research.
The session was introduced by Oluwaseun Johnson-Akeju, current president of IARS and chair at Mass General Brigham. The inaugural Emery N. Brown Early-Career Award was presented to Joseph Cichon for his work studying rapid-acting psychedelic therapies and neuroplasticity using advanced two-photon microscopy techniques. His research examines how psychedelic medications alter neuronal connectivity and plasticity within living tissue over time.
The featured lecture, “Tools for Analyzing, Repairing, and Simulating the Brain,” was delivered by Edward S. Boyden, a leading neuroscientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and investigator with the Howard Hughes Medical Institute. Dr. Boyden’s laboratory develops technologies designed to map brain structure, manipulate neural activity, and study large-scale neural dynamics with unprecedented spatial and temporal precision.
One of the major technologies discussed was expansion microscopy, first published in the journal Science in 2025. This technique physically enlarges biological tissue specimens by embedding proteins, RNA, and DNA into a swellable polymer network. The expansion process separates densely packed microscopic structures while preserving their spatial organization, allowing conventional microscopes to visualize nanoscale anatomy such as synapses.
When combined with lattice light-sheet imaging, expansion microscopy allows imaging speeds hundreds of times faster than traditional super-resolution microscopy methods. The technology also improves fluorescent labeling of otherwise inaccessible structures, including amyloid plaques and densely packed protein networks. Expansion microscopy has rapidly expanded worldwide, with more than 900 publications reported to date. Open educational resources and tutorials are publicly available to facilitate adoption of the technique.
Dr. Boyden also reviewed optogenetics, a technology allowing highly precise control of neuronal activity using light-sensitive ion channels derived from microbial opsins. By genetically engineering neurons to express these proteins, researchers can activate or silence neural circuits with millisecond precision using light stimulation. Importantly, optogenetic therapies are now moving beyond laboratory science into clinical translation. One highlighted example involved a gene therapy utilizing a red-light-activated channel that restored partial vision in a previously blind patient, allowing object recognition after rehabilitation training.
A major challenge in neuroscience is simultaneously monitoring multiple biologic signaling pathways inside living cells. To address this problem, Dr. Boyden’s group developed spatially and temporally multiplexed imaging approaches using genetically encoded fluorescent reporters. Spatial multiplexing differentiates biologic signals based on their intracellular location, allowing simultaneous monitoring of several signaling pathways. Temporal multiplexing separates signals according to timing characteristics, enabling multiple cellular processes to be monitored within a single imaging channel without spectral overlap.
These advanced imaging methods have allowed researchers to visualize distributed voltage activity across the entire brain of larval zebrafish at cellular resolution. Such technologies may ultimately provide important mechanistic insights into how anesthetic agents alter neuronal signaling, network synchronization, and large-scale brain state transitions during anesthesia and recovery.
The session concluded by emphasizing the long-term goal of creating open, scalable neurotechnology platforms capable of revealing fundamental brain mechanisms and eventually supporting sophisticated brain simulation strategies.
Key Points
• Expansion microscopy physically enlarges biologic tissue to allow nanoscale imaging with conventional microscopes.
• Combining expansion microscopy with lattice light-sheet imaging dramatically improves imaging speed and resolution.
• Optogenetics enables highly precise activation or silencing of neural circuits using light-sensitive proteins.
• Clinical optogenetic therapies have already demonstrated partial restoration of vision in blind patients.
• Spatial and temporal multiplexing techniques allow simultaneous monitoring of multiple biologic signaling pathways within living cells.
• Advanced imaging technologies may improve mechanistic understanding of how anesthetic agents alter neural circuitry and brain-wide network activity.
• Emerging neurotechnology platforms may eventually contribute to realistic brain simulation and advanced neuroscience modeling.
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