The Missing Puzzle Piece: Neuroscientists Discover New Group of Brain Cells
Scientists have identified a group of brain cells in mice that facilitate their ability to turn right or left. This finding could potentially be applied…
Optogenetics News
Optogenetics is an innovative technique in neuroscience that uses light to control cells within living tissue, typically neurons, that have been genetically modified to express light-sensitive ion channels. Developed in the early 2000s, this method involves the use of opsins, which are light-sensitive proteins originally derived from algae and bacteria. By introducing genes encoding these opsins into specific neurons in the brain, scientists can precisely control the activity of these neurons by shining light of specific wavelengths, typically using fiber optics or LEDs. This enables researchers to activate or inhibit neurons with unprecedented precision, helping to unravel the complex functions of various brain regions and the neural circuits that underlie behavior. Optogenetics has significantly advanced our understanding of how specific brain functions contribute to behaviors, neurological disorders, and psychiatric conditions, offering potential pathways for developing new therapies.
Illuminating a Biological Light Switch in Unprecedented Detail and Speed
Using an innovative new imaging technique, researchers at Weill Cornell Medicine have revealed the inner workings of a family of light-sensing molecules in unprecedented detail…
Building Social Bonds With Beams of Light: Implanted Wireless Device Triggers Mice to Form Instant Bond
First optogenetics-based study of unrestricted social interactions within groups of animals. Northwestern University researchers are building social bonds with beams of light. For the first…
Physicists Use Laser Light to Gain Access to Long-Lived Sound Waves
Yale scientists used laser light to gain access to long-lived sound waves in crystalline solids as the basis for information storage. The result was published…
Researchers Use Next-Generation Optogenetics to Control Single Neurons
Using a technique that relies on a new type of light-sensitive protein, researchers have devised a way to control single neurons using optogenetics. Researchers at…
FLARE Technique Provides Snapshots of Neuron Activity
Researchers from MIT and Stanford have developed a way to label neurons when they become active, essentially providing a snapshot of their activity at a…
Scientists Show How Synapses Are Arranged with Respect to Each Other
For the first time, neurobiologists show that contact points between specific neuron types are clustered in groups on the target neuron. The cerebral cortex resembles…
MIT Researchers Identify Cells That Represent Feelings of Isolation
In a newly published study, MIT neuroscientists reveal how they identified a brain region that represents the feelings of loneliness. Humans, like all social animals,…
Neuroscientists Reveal How the Brain Encodes Time and Place
Neuroscientists from MIT have now identified a brain circuit that processes the “when” and “where” components of memory, revealing that this information is split even…
Scientists Engineer Brain Cells to Produce Light
Neuroscientists from Brown University and Central Michigan University are working to make optogenetics even more powerful in the brain and beyond. Providence, Rhode Island (Brown…
Neuroscientists Identify Brain Circuit That Controls Decision-Making Under Conflict
A newly published study details how neuroscientists from MIT identified a neural circuit that controls decision-making under conflict. Some decisions arouse far more anxiety than…
Neuroscientists Pinpoint Neurons That Help Tell Faces Apart
Using optogenetics, neuroscientists from MIT have provided the first evidence that directly links FD neurons to face-discrimination in primates — specifically, differentiating between males and…
MIT Scientists Use Optogenetics to Trigger REM Sleep
By using optogenetics to trigger REM sleep in mice, a team of researchers from MIT has moved a step closer to being able to produce…
New Graphene Sensors Could Provide Unprecedented Insights into Brain Structure
New nanotechnology funded by DARPA’s RE-NET program and developed by researchers at the University of Wisconsin at Madison enables monitoring and stimulation of neurons using…
Neuroscientists Reverse Emotional Association of Specific Memories
Neuroscientists from MIT have identified the brain circuit that controls how memories become linked with positive or negative emotions, revealing that they could reverse the…
Neuroscientists Improve Touch Sensitivity in Mice
Neuroscientists from Brown University show that faint sensations can be made more vivid by triggering a brain rhythm that appears to shift sensory attention in…
Neuroscientists Inhibit Muscle Contractions by Shining Light on Spinal Cord Neurons
In a newly published study, MIT neuroscientists show that they can control muscle movement by shining light on spinal cord neurons in mice. For the…
Neuroscientists Plant False Memories in the Brains of Mice
In a new study, neuroscientists plant false memories in the brains of mice, showing that the brain’s neural mechanism underlying the recall of the memory…