Optogenetics News and Research

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Research reveals that brain circuits can help reduce anxiety disorders

Anxiety disorders, which include posttraumatic stress disorder, social phobias and obsessive-compulsive disorder, affect 40 million American adults in a given year. Currently available treatments, such as antianxiety drugs, are not always effective and have unwanted side effects.

22 Aug 2013

Study shows how brain integrates inputs from different senses in complex circuits of nerve cells

A new publication in the top-ranked journal Neuron sheds new light onto the unknown processes on how the brain integrates the inputs from the different senses in the complex circuits formed by molecularly distinct types of nerve cells. The work was led by new Ume- University associate professor Paolo Medini.

21 Aug 2013

Implanting false memory in the brain can be possible, say MIT neuroscientists

The phenomenon of false memory has been well-documented: In many court cases, defendants have been found guilty based on testimony from witnesses and victims who were sure of their recollections, but DNA evidence later overturned the conviction.

26 Jul 2013

Scientists identify circuitry in brain that drives compulsive drinking in rats

A research team led by scientists from the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at the University of California, San Francisco has identified circuitry in the brain that drives compulsive drinking in rats, and likely plays a similar role in humans.

23 Jul 2013

Seven scientists to receive Annual Klerman and Freedman Prizes from Brain & Behavior Research Foundation

Seven young scientists will be recognized by the Brain & Behavior Research Foundation at its presentation of the Annual Klerman and Freedman Prizes on Friday July 26, 2013 at Le Parker Meriden Hotel, New York, NY.

12 Jul 2013

Breaking habits is easy, reveal MIT researchers

Our daily routines can become so ingrained that we perform them automatically, such as taking the same route to work every day. Some behaviors, such as smoking or biting your fingernails, become so habitual that we can't stop even if we want to.

28 Jun 2013

New breakthrough in chemical nanoengineering may help develop light-regulated therapeutic molecules

The scientific cooperation between chemists, biotechnologists and physicists from various Catalan institutes, headed by Pau Gorostiza, from the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), and Ernest Giralt, from the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), has led to a breakthrough that will favor the development of light-regulated therapeutic molecules.

19 Jun 2013

NACC recommendations address established pain therapies and preview potential future advances

Recommendations of the Neuromodulation Appropriateness Consensus Committee (NACC), announced at the 11th World Congress of the International Neuromodulation Society (INS), address established therapies and preview emerging and potential future advances.

13 Jun 2013

Columbia psychiatry researchers suggest possible approaches to treat or prevent OCD

Columbia Psychiatry researchers have identified what they think may be a mechanism underlying the development of compulsive behaviors. The finding suggests possible approaches to treating or preventing certain characteristics of OCD.

11 Jun 2013

Optogenetics: A promising technique for treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorders

By applying light stimulation to highly specific neurons in the brain, the researchers managed to re-establish normal behaviour in mice that had beforehand presented pathological repetitive behaviour similar to that observed in human patients suffering from obsessive-compulsive disorders.

10 Jun 2013

UT Arlington physicist develops new tool to map, track interactions between neurons inside the brain

A new tool being developed by UT Arlington assistant professor of physics could help scientists map and track the interactions between neurons inside different areas of the brain.

17 May 2013

Researchers win Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine

Karl Deisseroth of Stanford University, Gero Miesenb-ck of the University of Oxford and Edward S. Boyden of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have been awarded Brandeis University's 16th Annual Jacob Heskel Gabbay Award in Biotechnology and Medicine.

22 Apr 2013

Scientists probe source of pulsing signal in the sleeping brain

New findings clarify where and how the brain's "slow waves" originate. These rhythmic signal pulses, which sweep through the brain during deep sleep at the rate of about one cycle per second, are assumed to play a role in processes such as consolidation of memory.

19 Apr 2013

Researchers use miniature electronic device to tap into internal reward system of mice

Using a miniature electronic device implanted in the brain, scientists have tapped into the internal reward system of mice, prodding neurons to release dopamine, a chemical associated with pleasure.

15 Apr 2013

Illuminating deep mysteries of brain

Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Washington University in St. Louis developed ultrathin, flexible optoelectronic devices - including LEDs the size of individual neurons - that are lighting the way for neuroscientists in the field of optogenetics and beyond.

12 Apr 2013

Computational simulations can help understand, treat cardiac rhythm disorders

Computational models of the human heart can be very useful in studying not just the basic mechanisms of heart function, but also to analyze the heart in a diseased state, and come up with methods for diagnosis and therapy.

11 Apr 2013

GenSight Biologics announces closing of €32 million Series A financing

GenSight Biologics, a biopharmaceutical company focused on the development of ophthalmic therapeutics using gene therapy, announced today the closing of a €32 million Series A financing.

8 Apr 2013

Stress circuits in brain undergo profound learning early in life

Researchers at the University of Calgary's Hotchkiss Brain Institute have discovered that stress circuits in the brain undergo profound learning early in life. Using a number of cutting edge approaches, including optogenetics, Jaideep Bains, PhD, and colleagues have shown stress circuits are capable of self-tuning following a single stress.

8 Apr 2013

Study: Altering brain activity with laser light eliminates addictive behavior in rats

By stimulating one part of the brain with laser light, researchers at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Ernest Gallo Clinic and Research Center at UC San Francisco (UCSF) have shown that they can wipe away addictive behavior in rats - or conversely turn non-addicted rats into compulsive cocaine seekers.

4 Apr 2013

Biomedical professor details research progress toward reading, writing neural code

Despite many remarkable discoveries in the field of neuroscience during the past several decades, researchers have not been able to fully crack the brain's "neural code."

13 Mar 2013