A new technology called LinCx allows scientists to create custom electrical connections between neurons with high precision. Researchers say it may help treat disorders caused by damaged brain circuits.
Damage to brain circuits plays a major role in many neurological disorders. Researchers at Duke University School of Medicine have developed a custom biological “wire” that could offer a new treatment strategy by creating alternate pathways around damaged brain connections instead of relying on long-term medications or external stimulation.
The research team, led by Kafui Dzirasa, MD, PhD, created a technology called LinCx that allows scientists to build new electrical connections between selected neurons. Unlike many existing methods that affect large groups of cells, LinCx is designed to make targeted, long-lasting changes within specific brain circuits. The study was published in Nature.
“By introducing a way to plug in new electrical connections with cellular‑level precision, our study marks a major step forward in the ability to edit brain circuitry and understand how neural networks give rise to behavior,“ said Dzirasa, the A. Eugene and Marie Washington Presidential Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Behavioral Medicine & Neurosciences.
Instead of repairing damaged synapses, the method creates a new electrical “bypass” between specific neurons, improving communication without altering the brain’s existing connections.
Engineered Proteins Create Precision Neural Links
The system is built using proteins originally discovered in fish that naturally form electrical synapses. Researchers engineered these proteins so they connect only with matching modified partners and avoid interacting with natural brain proteins. Using laboratory screening methods, including a newly developed fluorescence-based assay, the team identified protein pairs that could reliably transmit electrical signals between cells with high specificity.
Experiments in mice showed that these engineered electrical links strengthened communication in targeted circuits, altered activity patterns across the brain, and caused measurable behavioral changes related to social interaction and stress responses.
The researchers also tested the technology in worms and mice to demonstrate its flexibility. In worms, the added neural connections changed temperature-seeking behavior. In mice, the targeted connections again reshaped brain-wide activity and influenced behaviors linked to stress and social interaction.
LinCx Shows Behavioral Changes in Mice
“For decades, neuroscience has lacked tools that can precisely control communication between specific cell types,” Dzirasa said. Drugs, electrical stimulation, and optogenetics usually affect broad groups of cells, while earlier efforts to use electrical synapses often created unintended neural connections. According to Dzirasa, LinCx avoids many of these problems and may improve on current techniques without requiring external stimulation.
“We will next test whether LinCx is powerful enough to override synaptic deficits induced by lifelong genetic disruptions,” he said.
Reference: “Long-term editing of brain circuits using an engineered electrical synapse” by Elizabeth Ransey, Gwenaëlle E. Thomas, Elias M. Wisdom, Agustin Almoril-Porras, Ryan Bowman, Elise Adamson, Kathryn K. Walder-Christensen, Jesse A. White, Dalton N. Hughes, Hannah Schwennesen, Caly Ferguson, Kay M. Tye, Stephen D. Mague, Longgang Niu, Zhao-Wen Wang, Daniel Colón-Ramos, Rainbo Hultman, Nenad Bursac and Kafui Dzirasa, 13 May 2026, Nature.
DOI: 10.1038/s41586-026-10501-y
This study was funded by The Burroughs Wellcome Fund, the Ernest E. Just Life Science Institute, the Hartwell Foundation, the Hope for Depression Research Foundation, the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and the National Institutes of Health.
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