Gero Miesenböck is Waynflete Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford and a fellow of Magdalen College. Miesenböck is the founder of the emerging field of optogenetics. He has developed genetic strategies for visualizing and controlling nerve cells with light. He has invented several methods, including genetically targeted photostimulation of neurons and optical imaging of neurotransmission with synapto-pHluorin, a derivative of the green fluorescent protein. He has also been a pioneer in the use of flies to study neural circuits.