optogenetics

Revolutionary Neuroscience Technique Slated for Human Clinical Trials

06

Jan 2016
by brian
in news, optogenetics
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579

Revolutionary Neuroscience Technique Slated for Human Clinical Trials

A technique called optogenetics has transformed neuroscience during the past 10 years by allowing researchers to turn specific neurons on and off in experimental animals. By flipping these neural switches, it has provided clues about which brain pathways are involved in diseases like depression and obsessive-compulsive disorder. “Optogenetics is not just a flash in the pan,” saysneuroscientist Robert Gereau of Washington University in Saint Louis....

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Precision Optogenetics –

05

Jan 2016
by brian
in news, optogenetics
No Comments
549

Precision Optogenetics –

The year 2015 marked the ten-year anniversary of the introduction of channelrhodopsin 2 (ChR2) into neuroscience. ChR2 has proven to be a powerful tool not only for stimulating neurons, but also for inspiring the development of other optogenetic tools. Typically, these tools are excited with wide-field illumination, and specificity is imparted by their expression in genetically defined neurons. But for a more detailed dissection of...

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