Light in the attic

While the brain is still largely a black box when it comes to understanding its circuitry and what goes wrong in disease, Karl Deisseroth thinks that literally shining light on the problem could be part of the solution.

Deisseroth was one of the inventors of optogenetics - a technique to visualize and control brain circuits in animals - and is using it to identify circuits that control brain activity associated with health or disease. The technique involves expressing light-sensitive ion channels and using fiber optics to reversibly activate or deactivate targeted neurons and induce behavioral changes in real time. ...