optogenetics

Researchers find that an increased heart rate can induce anxiety in mice, given the right context.

A study finds roflumilast can reverse sleep deprivation–induced amnesia in mice, hinting at pathways to treating memory loss in people.

Nine people with spinal injuries walked again after electrical stimulation, allowing researchers to pinpoint neurons likely underlying their recovery.

The Boston University neuroscientist wants to take the edge off traumatic memories by manipulating how they’re processed in the brain.

Increasing mitochondrial activity in worms by engineering a light-activated proton pump into the organelle’s membrane extends the animals’ lifespan without evidence of health decline, according to a preprint.

A study shows “sonogenetics” could be a useful new tool in neuroscience and other fields.

Signals from sweeteners and sugars are relayed from the gut to the brain by different neural pathways, a new study concludes.

Using a transgenic fruit fly model, researchers demonstrate how epithelial barriers are maintained in living organisms despite high levels of cell turnover and death.

Mice have neurons that connect to both eyes but only propagate the signal from one or the other, simplifying the information sent to the cerebral cortex.

This year’s winners are Dieter Oesterhelt, Peter Hegemann, Karl Deisseroth, Drew Weissman, Katalin Karikó, and David Baltimore.

Heated gold nanoparticles unleash the therapeutic activity of engineered CAR T cells.

Research in mice suggests that moderating nerve activity with drugs or electrical pulses could modify tissue immune responses, curtailing the chronic pain often associated with inflammatory conditions.

Automated control of light-responsive nematode worms marks the first foray into the development of multicellular, biorobotic organisms.

After receiving an intraocular injection of the gene for a light-sensitive protein, a 58-year-old man diagnosed with the neurodegenerative eye disease retinitis pigmentosa was able to locate objects on a table using engineered goggles.

The animals adopt the emotional state of their cagemates, and the parts of the brain engaged during the process are different for pain and fear, according to a new study.

Using optogenetics, scientists have simulated the sense of smell directly within the mouse brain to investigate the nature of olfactory perception.

Strategies to make lab animals forget, remember, or experience false recollections probe how memory works, and may inspire treatments for neurological diseases.

Researchers have developed ways to manipulate neurons involved in a particular memory to make mice recall an experience or to remember something that never happened.