An optogenetics device could hit more specific subsets of brain cells than those devices can.
One hurdle is that existing optogenetics setups consume too much energy to fit in a reasonable-size device.
"It revolutionized research, " said Harvard Medical School researcher Wim Vanduffel, who uses optogenetics to study the primate brain.
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The technique, dubbed optogenetics, is barely five years old and, so far, has been used only on laboratory animals.
Optogenetics could someday lead to implantable brain devices that correct malfunctioning circuits by zapping them with pulses of light.
Another set of tools in the project that looks promising is called optogenetics.
Optogenetics could improve upon existing implanted devices that are used to treat Parkinson's disease, obsessive-compulsive disorder and other ailments with pulses of electricity.
The medical-device giant Medtronic already has a small group working on a prototype device to see what would be needed to make optogenetics therapy possible.
In one application of optogenetics, scientists investigated how neurons that make dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain, may give rise to feelings of reward and pleasure.
But now that it's here, optogenetics is destined to change the way we treat mental illness, and eventually, even, the way we understand ourselves as human beings.
Whether or not optogenetics itself becomes a therapy, Deisseroth hopes he will help psychiatrists move beyond the simplistic concept that mental illness is caused by depressed levels of brain chemicals like serotonin and dopamine.
Using optogenetics, a technique that allows researchers to inhibit specific cells with light, the researchers turned off IL cortex activity for several seconds as the rats approached the point in the maze where they had to decide which way to turn.
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