I saw one of the guys from this lab give a colloquium (namely about the virus vectors and mice) and it was the single most amazing thing/field I've learned about in the last 10 years.
Optogenetics represents a huge advancement in Neuroscience as they allow us to single out a specific population of neurons for stimulation while leaving their neighbors alone. Previous technologies for driving neural activity are barbaric by comparison. I seriously hope that karl deisseroth wins the nobel prize some day.
It's not just the improvement in spatial resolution, but in temporal resolution, too. The ability to stimulate specific subpopulations on millisecond timescales basically means the precision of our surgical techniques is now probably the main bottleneck to more sophisticated control (alongside our own understanding of the interactions of different neuronal circuits).
I'd say it's not so much a matter of "if" Deisseroth and his colleagues win so much as when.
This is amazing. A couple of years ago I asked if we were able to use Optogenetics to build a "bridge" over damaged neurons or nerve fibers. Is this technology a "yes" answer to that question?
Specifically in the peripheral nervous system, there's been some work along these lines, primarily in anesthetized experiments, using ChR2-expressing stem cells, which integrate into denervated nerves, and enable optogenetic control of the previously denervated muscles. See here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24700859
We wrote a review recently about what's been happening in optogenetics in the peripheral nervous system/spinal cord. That's here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/27147590
I feel terrible for the mice used in experiments, and yet I'm grateful for the scientific advances such experiments have made possible. Makes me uncomfortable.
Lots of mice for neuroscience experiments end up with their heads sliced in half, anyway, so there are worse fates. I never got that job, but I heard it does strange things to the mind to cut rat heads for an hour straight.
> I heard it does strange things to the mind to cut rat heads for an hour straight
I've spent a few years doing that. While I can see how the image might appear to folks who haven't been in that field, it's a bit hyperbolic to to think of it as a soul-bending meat grinder. Conducting an animal study in a reputable institution is regulated by an ethics committee with the purpose of scrutinizing scientific motivation and the care of animals. When you're clear on the purpose, methods, and minimum animal requirements, it isn't butchery. Furthermore, keeping the animals comfortable (through medication and other means) doesn't just serve to make the researcher feel good; it also eases stress on the animals, which otherwise can confound medical data. In short, it's a sophisticated professional endeavor, and the science gets more mindshare than the visceral unpleasantness of performing surgery on an animal. It has also been my experience that most people without experience in animal research can be quite surprised by the degree of similarity between animal care and use committees and human subject research review boards. Animal researchers can have a fairly high bar to clear to justify the use of vertebrate animals.
Thanks, I've read enough about the beginnings of biological science to deeply appreciate your explaining the humane approach which seems to be as well considered as your research, on behalf of our invaluable rodent assistants, thank you.
