A breakthrough neuroscience technology aim to restore sight to the blind people allowing them to see a monochromatic world.
The study, sponsored by a startup called RetroSense Therapeutics, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is expected to be the first human test of optogenetics, a technology developed in neuroscience labs that uses a combination of gene therapy and light to precisely control nerve cells.
Optogenetics was developed a decade ago in neuroscience labs as a way to precisely control the activity of nerve cells. It works by adding DNA instructions for a light-sensitive protein, channelrhodopsin, that algae use to sense sunlight and move toward it. Added to a nerve, it causes the cell to fire when exposed to a specific wavelength of light.
The Texas study will be followed closely by neuroscientists who hope to eventually use optogenetics inside the human brain to treat Parkinson’s or severe mental illness.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...cs-doctors-aim-to-restore-sight-to-the-blind/
The study, sponsored by a startup called RetroSense Therapeutics, of Ann Arbor, Michigan, is expected to be the first human test of optogenetics, a technology developed in neuroscience labs that uses a combination of gene therapy and light to precisely control nerve cells.
Optogenetics was developed a decade ago in neuroscience labs as a way to precisely control the activity of nerve cells. It works by adding DNA instructions for a light-sensitive protein, channelrhodopsin, that algae use to sense sunlight and move toward it. Added to a nerve, it causes the cell to fire when exposed to a specific wavelength of light.
The Texas study will be followed closely by neuroscientists who hope to eventually use optogenetics inside the human brain to treat Parkinson’s or severe mental illness.
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/...cs-doctors-aim-to-restore-sight-to-the-blind/