“Our team has created a transgenic mouse model where we can activate specific nerves in the hind paws using blue light.” Researchers at the University of Ottawa have made a significant advancement in ...

Is too much activity bad for the brain? Stimulated neurons secrete Aβ, and the most metabolically active areas of the brain succumb first to Alzheimer’s pathology. These findings have led to the idea ...

A minimally invasive optogenetic technique that does not require brain implants successfully manipulated the activity of neurons in mice and monkeys, researchers report April 29th in the journal ...

Specially tailored, ultrafast pulses of light can trigger neurons to fire and could one day help patients with light-sensitive circadian or mood problems, according to a new study. This study is among ...

Ilana Witten didn’t set out to study spatial learning. She thought she was investigating how mice socialize — but she discovered that in mouse brains, the social and the spatial are inextricably ...

Using light to control neuronal activity has been the dream of neuroscientists for decades. Because light does not interfere with normal brain function and can be targeted with exquisite spatial and ...

Please can you give an introduction to optogenetics? How was this technology inspired by psychiatry? Optogenetics is a way of introducing information into the brain using light, it targets specific ...

The rhythmic activity of the central pattern generator (CPG) controlling locomotion emerges from complex interactions between the intrinsic membrane and synaptic properties of neurons involved and ...

Soft and flexible: The optoelectronic implant containing a micro-LED array is inserted over the surface of the spinal cord. (Credit: Jimmy Ravier) Optogenetics – a technique that uses light to control ...

A minimally invasive optogenetic technique that does not require brain implants successfully manipulated the activity of neurons in mice and monkeys, researchers report. The researchers first ...