This project aims at studying, developing and validating new intramembrane molecular light actuators that elicit living cell photo-stimulation. The actuators are based on photochromic and amphiphilic moieties that dwell in the cell membrane and upon illumination behave like light driven molecular machines that perturb the membrane environment enough to hyperpolarize or depolarize the cell. We study the effects of these new molecular photoswitches in neurons by in-vitro and ex-vivo electrophysiology, from individual synapses to neural networks of healthy animals but also in experimental models of neuro-diseases