Cell specificity of presented techniques

Thank you very much for the question! Unfortunately, we do not have our own experience with Cre-based techniques in combination with optogenetics, so I cannot advice on this point.

However, if the goal is to express and activate these tools in specific cell types, alternative approaches could involve using cell type-specific promoters or targeted construct delivery using cell type specific vectors such as AAVs.

One thing to keep in mind is that different cell types vary in their sensitivity to different forms of cell death due to differential expression of downstream effectors (such as Gasdermins, MLKL etc) or endogenous regulatory mechanisms (such as post-translational modifications, protein-protein interactions etc) acting on optogenetic tools.