Slashdot Mirror
Light Helps Injured Mice Walk Again
Mantrid42 writes "Researchers have been able to affect the brains of lab mice using light. Working in a new field called Optogenetics (optical stimulation plus genetic engineering), scientists injected lab mice with genes that can stimulate or inhibit neural activity based on the color of the light they're exposed to, and can be targeted to infect only on certain cell types. Additionally, another gene has been added to make neurons glow green when firing, allowing two-way communication between a brain and a machine."
In principle, at any rate, it should be. Viruses are constantly hot-patching cells to modify their behavior, that is how they survive and multiply. A suitably modified virus could presumably be made to carry this particular payload. Not something you'd want to use prior to extensive testing(injecting viruses into someone's brain not being an obviously safe procedure); but it isn't implausible.
Actually, most forms of gene therapy don't require growing cells to work. If you use a virus to carry the genes of interest into the cell, your cell will read the inserted DNA just as if it were your own. There are two routes you can go with viral vectors. You can use a retrovirus, which will actually insert genes into your permanent genome, which will cause those genes to be copied and passed on if the infected cells divide. Or you can use adenoviruses or adeno-associated viruses, which can give genes to infected cells, but those genes will not be passed on. The retroviral approach carries added risks of inserting genes in the wrong places (causing some cases of leukemia in clinical trials), and having genes pass to dividing cells is of little benefit if you want to infect the neurons of an adult brain.
Of course, adeno-type viruses (either a weakened or non-pathogenic strain is used) are not without risk, particularly if you're planning to use them to infect your brain- meningitis seems like it'd be a real concern here. Right now, viral vector gene therapy is at the level of being an early experimental treatment for conditions like cancers and inherited immunodeficiencies- making your thoughts produce light would be a very off-label use.
"FDA staff reviewers expressed concern about the number of patients who were left out of the study because they died."
Most amazing piece I've read on science in a long time. This makes the genome projects look like stepping stones. If you read the whole thing and can't see the amazing power of this field you will hopefully be one of the early benefactors because you need it.