Scientists control brain cells with light to win prize
Three researchers have won the Nobel Prize in physiology or medicine for controlling brain cells with light.
Peter Hegemann and Georg Nagel studied a single-celled alga to understand how it senses light through a specific protein called channelrhodopsin. This protein opens a passage when light hits it, allowing particles to flow inside the cell.
Karl Deisseroth later combined this discovery with nerve cells to switch them on simply by shining light on them directly. This technique is now known as optogenetics and allows scientists to control specific groups of nerve cells easily.
Researchers use viruses to deliver the gene for channelrhodopsin into the cells they wish to study in their experiments. Mice in studies showed fear responses when scientists switched specific memory cells on with light after a shock.
Optogenetics has transformed investigations into how the brain and nervous system work for many different scientific fields today. It is in early-stage clinical trials to help people with retinal degeneration restore some vision using light.