Optogenetics (from Greek optikós, meaning “seen, visible”) is a biological technique which involves the use of light to control cells in living tissue, typically neurons, that have been genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels. It is a neuromodulation method employed in neuroscience that uses a combination of techniques from optics and genetics to control and monitor the activities of individual neurons in living tissue.
Optogenetics offers the ability to bypass damaged photoreceptors. The technology involves genetically engineering other types of cells to respond to light by adding genes that code for proteins called channelrhodopsins, which normally sit in the photoreceptor cell membrane. Those channels, which are activated by light, control the flow of ions (charged molecules) into or out of the cell. When light strikes the cell, the channels can open or close, either stimulating or suppressing the flow of ions and thus the electrical activity of the cell
For the first time, scientists have directly controlled brain cells using sound waves, in a tiny laboratory worm. They used ultrasound to trigger activity in specific neurons, causing the worms to change direction.
A JOLLA–Salk scientists have developed a new way to selectively activate brain, heart, muscle and other cells using ultrasonic waves. The new technique, dubbed sonogenetics, has some similarities to the burgeoning use of light to activate cells in order to better understand the brain.
This new method–which uses the same type of waves used in medical sonograms–may have advantages over the light-based approach–known as optogenetics–particularly when it comes to adapting the technology to human therapeutics.
At MIT research lab, Optogenetic technology restores visual behavior in mice giving hope of treating human blindness.
There is currently no cure for retinitis pigmentosa, but scientists are working on ways to restore vision by making other cells of the retina, which are spared by the disease, sensitive to light. In a new study of mice, researchers at the University of Southern California (USC) used technology developed by a consortium of institutions, including MIT, to do just that. By inducing light sensitivity in other cells of the retina, they brought back enough vision for the mice to navigate a maze.
https://youtu.be/rUhgUq5VIJo
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