Blue light could cure diabetes. Optogenetics, Or, Making Blind Mice See The Light. M.guardian.co.uk. Song of the Machine by Superflux speculates on the possibilities for augmented reality offered by the new technology Link to video: Song of the Machine The purpose of retinal prosthetics is to restore sight to patients who have a degenerative condition called retinitis pigmentosa, which affects one in 3,500 people.
In the condition, the retina's light-sensing cells – rods and cones – become inactive and eventually die. Symptoms start with night blindness and worsening tunnel vision, but eventually there is a total loss of sight. In 1992, research showed that the eye's communication cells – known as retinal ganglion cells – remain intact in patients with retinitis pigmentosa. In the past two decades since the research was published, hundreds of millions of pounds have been invested in retinal prosthesis research. One of the key challenges has been the fundamental architecture of our visual system.
USC, MIT researchers develop gene therapy with potential to restore sight to the blind. LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California (USC) have developed a potential therapy for blindness that involves delivering a gene encoding a light-sensitive protein to inner retinal cells, enabling photosensitivity in these cells and restoring visual function in mouse models. The research, led by senior author Alan Horsager, Ph.D., a neuroscientist at the Keck School, focuses on blindness caused by retinitis pigmentosa and age-related macular degeneration, conditions that lead to gradual loss of photoreceptors in the retina and eventual blindness.
Horsager’s research targets other cells in the retina called bipolar cells, which are part of the retina’s intricate signal processing system. The proof of concept paper was published on April 19 in the journal . “It’s a very targeted approach that maintains the natural processing of the retina,” said Horsager. Anne Trafton, MIT News Office. Optogenetics Pinpoint Brain Areas That Control Anxiety. 0inShare New optogenetic research on mice from Karl Deisseroth’s lab at Stanford has identified two important pathways related to anxiety control in the brain. The lab has pioneered a technique that genetically modifies specific cells to become more active when light is introduced. This way the researchers are able to pinpoint which cells are involved with a specific brain activity.
From National Science Foundation’s press release: Directed genetic manipulations cause specific neurons to assemble a light-activated protein normally found in algae and bacteria.
Optogenetics Videos. Optogenetics. The earliest approaches were developed and applied in the lab of Gero Miesenböck,[3][4] now Waynflete Professor of Physiology at the University of Oxford,[5] and Richard Kramer and Ehud Isacoff at the University of California, Berkeley; these methods conferred light sensitivity but were never reported to be useful by other laboratories due to the multiple components these approaches required. A distinct single-component approach involving microbial opsin genes introduced in 2005 turned out to be widely applied, as described below. Optogenetics is known for the high spatial and temporal resolution that it provides in altering the activity of specific types of neurons to control a subject's behavior. In 2010, optogenetics was chosen as the Method of the Year across all fields of science and engineering by the interdisciplinary research journal Nature Methods (Primer on Optogenetics,[6] Editorial[7] Commentary[8]).
History[edit] Description[edit] Fig 1. Fig 2. Applications[edit] Optogenetics Resource Page. Here’s a hint to all you researchers out there: if you want a fast track to scientific fame, first develop a new technique and then (now this is the important part) give it a catchy name. Dr. Karl Deisseroth was able to do just that with his invention of “optogenetics,” a now fertile playground for neuroscientists. This technology consists of light-inducible gene expression in neurons, and its impact on neuroscience research will undoubtedly continue to grow in the years to come. If you want a crash course on optogenetics, head to the source: Dr. Deisseroth’s Optogenetics Resource Page. This site, which features the very photogenic optogenetic mouse himself, contains background and sequence information for various optogenetic vectors, protocols and product lists, and pdfs of thirty-one reference papers.
So until you perfect your own rolls-off-the-tongue technique, you can study up on the wonders of optogenetics in the meantime. Optogenetics Resource Center.