How Light Controls Brain Cells in Optogenetics
Karl Deisseroth won a Nobel Prize for developing optogenetics, a method that uses light to control brain cells. Scientists around the world now use this technique in their laboratories.
In short: Karl Deisseroth won a Nobel Prize for developing optogenetics, a method that uses light to control brain cells. Scientists around the world now use this technique in their laboratories.
Imagine controlling brain cells with a simple flash of light. A scientist named Karl Deisseroth spent nearly twenty years turning this idea into reality, earning a Nobel Prize for his groundbreaking work.
What happened, in plain words
Karl Deisseroth, a professor of bioengineering and of psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford University, won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine alongside two other scientists. Deisseroth helped develop optogenetics by finding light-activated proteins called opsins from microbes, figuring out their structures, and placing them on specific neurons. His team designed methods using tiny fiber-optic cables to deliver laser light into the brains of living animals, allowing scientists to control brain activity and observe behavioral changes.
Key points
- Light-activated proteins control brain cells: Opsins are pore-like proteins that open when hit by specific wavelengths of light, letting electrically charged particles flow across cell surfaces to activate or inhibit neurons.
- Overcoming major scientific hurdles: Deisseroth and his team successfully delivered opsin genes into rodents using viruses, ensuring the proteins appeared on the correct surfaces of targeted neurons without causing the immune system to destroy them.
- Global scientific impact: Optogenetics has vastly improved how scientists study the neural basis of sensation, cognition, decision, and action, and is now routinely used in thousands of labs worldwide.
Terms explained
- Optogenetics — A scientific technique that uses light to control the activity of specific cells, such as neurons in the brain. Example: Turning a flashlight on to make a specific brain cell fire an electrical signal.
- Opsins — Proteins found in microbes that change their shape and open tiny pores when exposed to light. Example: A microscopic doorway that swings open only when a beam of light hits it.
- Neurons — Specialized cells in the nervous system that transmit electrical and chemical signals to pass information through the body. Example: Wires in a computer network carrying messages back and forth.
Why it matters
This technology gives researchers a precise tool to study how the brain works during sensation, decision-making, and action. It helps scientists better understand the neural basis of various behaviors.
What we still don't know
The source notes that putting microbial proteins into mammalian cells carried huge risks, such as immune system attacks or failure to function correctly. The text does not discuss human medical treatments or cures resulting from this research.
Based on reporting from Stanford Report. This is an independent explainer, written in our own words with AI assistance; Stanford Report has not reviewed or endorsed it. Read the original for the full details.