I wrote a story recently about a cool technique called optogenetics, developed by bioengineering professor Karl Deisseroth, MD, PhD. He won the Keio Prize in Medicine, and I thought it might be interesting to talk with some other neuroscientists at Stanford to get their take on the importance of the technology. You know something is truly groundbreaking when each and every person you interview uses the word "revolutionary" to describe it.
Optogenetics is a technique that allows scientists to use light to turn particular nerves on or off. In the process, they're learning new things about how the brain works and about diseases and mental health conditions like Parkinson's disease, addiction and depression.
In describing the award, the Keio Prize committee wrote:
By making optogenetics a reality and leading this new field, Dr. Deisseroth has made enormous contributions towards the fundamental understanding of brain functions in health and disease.
One of the things I found most interesting when writing the story came from a piece Deisseroth wrote several years ago in Scientific American in which he stressed the importance of basic research. Optogenetics would not have been a reality without discoveries made in the lowly algae that makes up pond scum.
"The more directed and targeted research becomes, the more likely we are to slow our progress, and the more certain it is that the distant and untraveled realms, where truly disruptive ideas can arise, will be utterly cut off from our common scientific journey," Deisseroth wrote.
Deisseroth told me that we need to be funding basic, curiosity-driven research along with efforts to make those discoveries relevant. He said that kind of translation is part of the value of programs like Stanford Bio-X - an interdisciplinary institute founded in 1998 - which puts diverse faculty members side by side to enable that translation from basic science to medical discovery.
Previously: They said "Yes": The attitude that defines Stanford Bio-X, New York Times profiles Stanford's Karl Deisseroth and his work in optogenetics, An in-depth look at the career of Stanford's Karl Deisseroth, "a major name in science", Lightning strikes twice: Optogenetics pioneer Karl Deisseroth's newest technique renders tissues transparent, yet structurally intact, The "rock star" work of Stanford's Karl Deisseroth and Nature Methods names optogenetics its "Method of the Year
Photo by Tim Elliott, Shutterstock photos
