The Canadian Optogenetics and Vectorology Foundry, a unique platform to develop, optimise and disseminate optogenetics and viral tools.

Marie-Eve Paquet ^1,2, Nizar Chetoui¹, Marc Boisvert¹, Jean-Nicolas Simard¹, Robert Campbell^1,3 and Yves De Koninck^1,2. 1.Centre de recherche CERVO, 2.Université Laval, 3.University of Tokyo

Optogenetics, the branch of biotechnology which combines genetic engineering with optics to observe and control the function of genetically targeted groups of cells with light, is transforming the way neuroscientists can study the brain and behaviour. Optogenetic Tools open an immense array of possibilities to dramatically enhance the throughput of biological discoveries, by enabling the monitoring and manipulation of hundreds to thousands of cells simultaneously, with genetic specificity. The possibilities do not end there, as the growing array of genetically-encoded tools expands, almost on a weekly basis, to enable monitoring and control of an expanding array of cellular events by light. The continuing challenge in the development pipeline is generating versions of tools that are sufficiently robust for real world applications. Akin to the drug development pipeline, optogenetic tools that work in reduced preparations often hit barriers making them unsuitable for in vivo applications (e.g., expression, trafficking & interference issues). True optimization of these tools can only be achieved by building an active feedback loop between developers and teams with dedicated staff that test them in a range of models (including primates, iPSC-derived human tissue, and human native tissue). This critical loop is the largest bottleneck and can only be accelerated with stable support of Design/Development Cores and of Testing Nodes. The model structure to fill this gap is the BioFoundry, which the Canadian Optogenetics and Vectorology Foundry (COVF) uniquely applies to this niche.