Neurophotonics, described as the application of light-based tools and technologies to observe the finest details of the human nervous system and brain, is advancing brain research and the development of therapies for neuro-diseases and psychiatric disorders.

Valentin Nagerl, professor of neuroscience and bio-imaging at the University of Bordeaux, noted that the development of new kinds of bio-sensors (and actuators), advanced microscopy techniques and image analysis tools among other elements is helping to push the broad and dynamic field of neuroscience forwards.

However, further improvements across every area are needed to advance the scope and usefulness of neurophotonics methods. Research groups across the globe are working on such developments, integrating elements of optics, biology and physics to craft ever better technologies to penetrate ever deeper into living tissues such as brain.

While substantial funding programmes like the BRAIN initiative put the US in a strong position for neuroscience research, other regions are also excelling in the development of neurophotonics instruments and techniques.

With a history of manufacturing optical systems and pioneers like Leica and Zeiss, Germany is at the forefront of the commercialisation of super-resolution microscopy techniques, which have made it possible to study the complex and dynamic inner life of cells at the level of the individual protein building blocks. Meanwhile, in France scientists have been focusing on biological applications and discoveries enabled by these new techniques, Nagerl pointed out.

Of the many emerging developments in neuroscience, Nagerl considers the new generation of super-resolution light microscopes to be a breakthrough. By improving the ability to look deep inside biological tissue, these microscopes for instance allow taking extremely sharp and detailed images of neurons and their activity in real time as the animal subject goes about its everyday tasks.

This discovery brought professor Stefan Hell, director at the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Gottingen, and his colleagues a Nobel Prize in 2014.

By breaking Abbe's limit, the diffraction barrier in optical microscopy, Hell was able to increase the power of resolution tenfold, and he also showed there was room to obtain even better resolutions.

'These advances in imaging make it possible to study, in real time, molecules and processes within the brain that...