Neuroscientist Ed Boyden shows how, by inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins into brain cells, he can selectively activate or de-activate specific neurons with fiber-optic implants. With this unprecedented level of control, he's managed to cure mice of analogs of PTSD and certain forms of blindness. And on the horizon: neural prosthetics.
May 20, 2011
Ed Boyden on optogenetics and neural prosthetics [TED]
Neuroscientist Ed Boyden shows how, by inserting genes for light-sensitive proteins into brain cells, he can selectively activate or de-activate specific neurons with fiber-optic implants. With this unprecedented level of control, he's managed to cure mice of analogs of PTSD and certain forms of blindness. And on the horizon: neural prosthetics.
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Thanks for sharing this TED presentation, George. Ed Boyden has done a lot of great work in the field of neurobiology and his co-invention of optogenetics holds tremendous promise. This work has huge potential for expanding our understanding of the brain and for finding ways to both heal and augment it.
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