Brain-wide Quantification of Inflammation and Neural Activity at Single-cell Resolution
Sunil Gandhi, Ph.D.
Translucence Biosystems
Dr. Gandhi has focused his scientific career on developing cell technology to tap the brain’s latent capacity to rewire itself. He received his graduate training with Charles Stevens at the Salk Institute, where he studied the fundamental mechanisms of neurotransmitter release. As a postdoctoral fellow in Michael Stryker’s lab at UCSF, he discovered that young interneurons implanted in older brains induce a rejuvenating period of brain plasticity. With the support of a New Innovator Award from the NIH Director, a Searle Scholars Award, and fellowships from the Klingenstein and Whitehall Foundations, he has pioneered the use of embryonic inhibitory neuron transplantation to rewire the adult visual system. His lab discovered that transplanted inhibitory neurons successfully integrate into the circuitry of the adult host brain and correct developmental miswiring of the visual system in mice. More recently, the group has developed new methods for whole-brain visualization using new brain-clearing methods and light sheet microscopy. To disseminate these technologies to the neuroscience community, he co-founded a BRAIN Initiative-supported startup company, Translucence Biosystems. The company successfully partnered with ZEISS Microscopy to develop a new microscopy system for higher-resolution, faster light sheet microscopy of large, cleared samples. Dr. Gandhi’s group has combined expert skill in cell transplantation and advanced brain imaging to forge a collaboration with Drs. Mathew Blurton-Jones and Robert Spitale at UCI. Together, the team has developed a platform for the study of human microglia funded by the NIH BRAIN Initiative that combines stem cell technology, RNA sequencing, CRISPR gene editing, and advanced imaging.