Neuronal fillopodia respond to distant femtosecond pulses

In this paper, we show that the neuronal fillopodia can detect and respond to the presence of focused femtosecond laser light at a distance, an effect that does not occur when CW illumination is used. Control and manipulation of axonal growth is of extreme importance in the field of neurosciences as it could lead to advances such as in-vivo nerve regeneration or arbitrary patterning of neural circuits.