Scientists have developed a light-triggered switch to control brain cells, which could aid in the development of therapies for epilepsy and other diseases--and shed light on the neural code.

Scientists can now turn on and off specific parts of the brain with a simple flash of light. The new molecular tool, developed by scientists at MIT and Stanford, allows unprecedented control over the brain and could lead to more-effective treatments for epilepsy, Parkinson's, and other diseases. It could also help neuroscientists crack the language of the brain: the information encoded in the electrical activity of neurons, which forms our memories and directs our every move.

"In many ways, I think it's going to revolutionize the field," says Michael Hausser, a neuroscientist at University College London who wrote a commentary accompanying the research, published today in Nature and last month in Public Library of Science One. "It could replace the stimulating electrode, which has been the main tool for neurophysiologists for the last 100 years. It could also improve clinical applications where implanted electrodes have been shown to be useful by targeting excitation or inhibition to specific cells."

Neurons encode information with a series of electrical pulses transmitted between cells. Neuroscientists have traditionally studied the function of brain cells by sending jolts of electricity delivered by an electrode, which sparks activity in neurons. However, it's difficult to target that activity to a specific type of cell, and there is no corresponding treatment to turn off cells.
Last year, Karl Deisseroth, a bioengineer and physician at Stanford, and Ed Boyden, a bioengineer at MIT, co-opted a light-sensitive channel from jellyfish to create a genetic "on" switch. The channel sits on the cell membrane and opens when exposed to light, allowing positive charge to flow into the cell. Shining light on neurons that are genetically engineered to carry the channel triggers electrical activity within the cell that then spreads to the next neuron in the circuit.

This is an interesting article I read the whole thing previously. (Being a bit of a science junkie). I always find it amazing how very little we actually know about the brain overall.

As a side note please be aware of the rules here at Astahost. Copied text (in this case http://edboyden.org/07.03.han.comment.technologreview.pdf) is required to be in Quote tags. I noticed several of your other post are the same thus, you may wish to edit them.

Wow, this is really amazing, I wouldn't even realize that something like this could be working, I thought this is only in the movies, but if it's so amazing, I still think there may be some problems with it and it's not so easy as it can sound.. But really interesting article, even though it's copied from elsewhere..