MCGOVERN INSTITUTE FOR BRAIN RESEARCH. A significant milestone in the field of neuroscience was recently made.
An intricate network of circuits, the knowledge of the brain’s working evaded scientists up until a decade ago. But now, the brain can be studied by analyzing each brain cell through optogenetics.
Optogenetics is a technology where optics (light) and genetics are used to control living tissue (such as neurons). Cells are genetically engineered to respond to light. This could be used in a wide variety of medical applications. It can be used to activate and inactivate neurons and determine the role of each inside the brain. Thus it can be used to further understand brain disorders and to direct targets for drug development. By itself, the technology is being studied to be therapeutic by restoring light-sensitive proteins in the cells of the eye and thus restoring vision. The experiment however, is still at the level of animal studies.
For this brilliant work, the researchers were awarded the Perl/UNC Neuroscience Prize and were given $10,000.
“I had trained as an engineer and physicist at MIT before starting neuroscience graduate school…so thinking about the brain as a computer system to be engineered felt natural.” said Edward S. Boyden, PhD and one of the authors.
| Invention | Optogenetics |
|---|---|
| Organization | McGovern Institute for Brain Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Stanford University |
| Researcher | Ed Boyden, Feng Zhang, Karl Deisseroth |
| Field(s) | optogenetics, neuroscience, medicine, cognitive science |
| Further Information |
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2012/faculty-share-prestigious-neuroscience-prize.html |
