DIY Optogenetics

Pain is what drives more people to seek medical attention than any other symptom. Its cost is nearly incalculable. But newer technologies bring relief closer. This piece reports on three developments: an ionic pump that delivers neurotransmitters directly to throbbing neurons (developed at Linkoping University and the Karolinska Institute in Sweden); an optigenetics approach which uses an implanted LED-fiber optic and a light sensitive protein to stimulate dopamine expression (from Washington University of St. Louis); and a recombinant DNA process for producing opiates in yeast or E. coli instead of poppies (at the University of California-Berkeley and Concordia University in Montreal).   MORE

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