{"id":125524,"date":"2021-07-26T14:22:19","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T21:22:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/how-gene-therapy-and-algae-proteins-partially-restored-a-blind-mans-sight"},"modified":"2021-07-26T14:22:19","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T21:22:19","slug":"how-gene-therapy-and-algae-proteins-partially-restored-a-blind-mans-sight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2021\/07\/how-gene-therapy-and-algae-proteins-partially-restored-a-blind-mans-sight","title":{"rendered":"How Gene Therapy and Algae Proteins Partially Restored a Blind Man\u2019s Sight"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/how-gene-therapy-and-algae-proteins-partially-restored-a-blind-mans-sight3.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>The result is <a href=\"https:\/\/singularityhub.com\/2020\/10\/13\/scientists-found-a-new-way-to-control-the-brain-with-light-no-surgery-required\/\">optogenetics<\/a>, a mind-controlling technique that\u2019s become one of neuroscience\u2019s most popular tools. Here, scientists use genetic engineering to put different types of algae proteins into the brains of mice. They can then activate a neuron with an implanted fiber optic cable by pulsing certain wavelengths of light. These enhanced brain cells react as they would naturally, generating an electrical signal that\u2019s passed down and interpreted by the mouse\u2019s brain.<\/p>\n<p>Sound familiar?<\/p>\n<p>If an algae protein can artificially allow neurons in the brain to translate light into electrical information, why can\u2019t it do the same for damaged eyes?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The result is optogenetics, a mind-controlling technique that\u2019s become one of neuroscience\u2019s most popular tools. Here, scientists use genetic engineering to put different types of algae proteins into the brains of mice. They can then activate a neuron with an implanted fiber optic cable by pulsing certain wavelengths of light. These enhanced brain cells react [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":556,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1902,11,412,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-125524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bioengineering","category-biotech-medical","category-genetics","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125524","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/556"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=125524"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/125524\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=125524"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=125524"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=125524"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}