by Christina Roche

Imagine a way to cure diseases by the simple flick of a light switch. Imagine a way to read the brain by using light. Well, it may become a reality. On November 23 Carolyn Johnson shed some light on the brain study known as optogenetics.

According to Scientific America this new field of study allows scientists to control groups of neurons and individual neural circuits. Previously, it was only possible to study single nerve cells at a time, making it difficult to determine the function of the nerve.

To put it simply, the brain works optically. When one is sleeping there is hardly any activity and can be compared to starry night sky. When one is awake the brain can be compared to a million flashing lights (Scientific America). By testing and studying the different light patterns it would be possible to see brain circuits function.

An Active Brain

How will scientists be able to measure the light? According to  Impact Lab.co, scientist’s genetically engineer the neurons to make them sensitive to light and insert them through gene therapy. A fiber optic device is implanted into the brain. When the neuron is exposed to light “the protein triggers electrical activity within the cell that spreads to the next neuron in the circuit.”

Previously the technology had only been used on mice and fruit flies but has recently been tested in rhesus macaque monkeys. Everything has gone well so far, and scientists feel that they will be able to probe things like disease and emotion (Johnson,Carolyn).

The hard part is trying the technology on humans. Some say that if enough study is done on animals drugs can be created for diseases such as Parkinsons and would mean a safer options for testing on humans.

Gero Miesenbeck, a professor at Oxford University explained how the technology would help to create new drugs. If you identify the neurons that control appetite, you have a drug target; if you identify the neurons that regulate fear, you have a drug target

The video is a mouse who is under testing for optogenetics. When the light is turned on (scientists flick a switch that connects with the fiber optic cable going through the mouses brain&) the mouse runs in circles. By monitoring the brain activity and which neurons groups cause this.