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Advantage of optogenetics
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Joslyn Babiera
Mrs. Klock
English 2 Honors, Period 2
8 April 2014
Optogenetics: Optimistic For A Cure
When thinking of the word optogenetics, the word optimistic comes to mind, and that is exactly what optogenetics is. This new technology is optimistic to opening new doors to help save lives step by step, find cures, and a way for doctors to find underlying causes of life-threatening diseases. The idea was first brought up by Francis Crick, who also helped discover the double helix in DNA. “Crick’s idea was that light, with its unparalleled speed and precision, could be the ideal tool for controlling neurons and mapping the brain,” (Barth 3). Optogenetics is the technique of using different colored lights and proteins to activate neurons in the brain to change the way it functions (Dougherty 1). Optogenetics has the potential to achieve medical breakthroughs which can be beneficial to the health of humans and especially people who are affected by diseases of the brain like depression, Parkinson’s disease, and schizophrenia (Callaway 1). He believes that over time, this technique will be able to target the underlying causes and symptoms of life-threatening diseases such as: Parkinson’s disease, blindness, drug addiction, and many more. This innovation should only bring positive effects over society, as it could be a potential life saver to many. As of now this technology is only being tested in animals, but all of the experiments have been successful. With more studies and testing over time, it could soon be used in humans in less than a decade. With optogenetics already having success with the minds of animals, who knows what wonders this new technology could accomplish in the minds of humans.
In optogenetics, pathways in the brai...
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...t optogenetics has huge potential to help save lives and that it will have a big impact in the near future around the world. Because optogenetics is performed on the brain, one mess up has the potential to change the patient’s life drastically if not done correctly, so its performance on humans will not be soon because of the need for this technique to be perfected. “Neuroscientists are eagerly, but not always successfully, looking for proof that optogenetics—a celebrated technique that uses pulses of visible light to genetically alter brain cells to be excited or silenced—can be as successful in complex and large brains as it has been in rodent models” (“Neuroscience Method” 1). Scientists have yet to uncover the endless possibilities of optogenetics and when they do, it can improve the well-being of humans all over the world and thrive for the generations to come.
...eezing in mice that were previously fear conditioned in a different setting, which suggests that light-induced fear memory recall is setting specific. What this suggests is that activating a population of hippocampus neurons that may have previously had memory traces stored, is enough for a memory to be recalled (Liu et al, 2012). The development of optogenetics has provided great insight in fear memory recall, nevertheless, more research into further testing if different types of memories can be recalled through optogenetics. By exploring this possibility, this may help amnesic patients in recalling lost memories.
My interest into becoming an optometrist had begun when I was in high school; it happened in an unconventional way. It was not through watching videos, or someone explaining to me what optometry was, but rather, seeing the power of it firsthand. There was a point in my life where I felt emotions that I was unable to comprehend at the time. Seeing a family member on an operating table was the most petrifying moment that I have gone through, especially when the person on the table was my father. My father had to get a chalazion removed from his right eyelid. The doctor told my family that my father would be susceptible to certain health risks because of his diabetes and the severity of his cyst. This procedure was the hardest thing I have had to deal with in my life because it made me feel helpless. Usually, when my dad needs help he always asks me, but this time I could not do anything. It is interesting to think that something so small had such a big affect on my life.
Adaptation to unpredictable conditions is a key force in driving human evolution. The ability to overcome predicaments with poise is one of the greatest assets humans possess. In “The Mind’s Eye”, Oliver Sacks recounts various perspectives of individuals coping with blindness. Each individual took a different path to becoming accustomed to their blindness and each of the case studies showed compensatory mechanism unique to the individual. Throughout the article, Sacks credits each person for playing to their assets because he views adaptability as a person’s capacity to alter their mode of thought in order to fit their circumstance. Although Sacks shows many examples of neuronal plasticity as an adaptation to blindness, he eludes to the impact
could be modified or expanded upon given what has been learned about the brain through
Yeager, Ashley. "Gene Therapy with Electrical Pulses Spurs Nerve Growth." Science News. N.p., 23 Apr. 2014. Web.
Neuroscience refers to “the scientific study of the nervous system” It has been responsible for breakthroughs involving molecular, cellular, developmental, and medical aspects of human behaviors. Various organizations such as the “International society for neurochemistry” and the “European Brain and behavior Society” exist today to further the study of the nervous system and expand human understanding of medical and psychological ailments. The actual study of the nervous system dates all the way back to ancient Egypt where surgeons would drill holes into the human skull in order to alleviate a variety of aliments. The second half of the 20th century furthered the study of neuroscience via advancements in Molecular biology, and electrophysiology. These advancements are currently being used to study potential solutions to diseases such as (ALS) amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, strokes, and brain trauma. This research is funded by credible organizations such as the (NIH) National Institute of Health and the “National S...
This paper involves how the brain and neurons works. The target is to display the brain and neurons behavior by sending signals. The nervous system that sends it like a text message. This becomes clear on how we exam in the brain. The techniques show how the brain create in order for the nerves about 100 billion cells. Neurons in the brain may be the only fractions of an inch in length. How powerful the brain could be while controlling everything around in. When it’s sending it signals to different places, and the neurons have three types: afferent neurons, efferent neurons, and the interneurons. In humans we see the old part of emotions which we create memories plus our brain controls heart beating, and breathing. The cortex helps us do outside of the brain touch, feel, smell, and see. It’s also our human thinking cap which we plan our day or when we have to do something that particular day. Our neurons are like pin head. It’s important that we know how our brain and neurons play a big part in our body. There the one’s that control our motions, the way we see things. Each neuron has a job to communicate with other neurons by the brain working network among each cell. Neurons are almost like a forest where they sending chemical signals. Neurons link up but they don’t actually touch each other. The synapses separates there branches. They released 50 different neurons.
As the human body goes through different experiences, the brain grows, develops, and changes according to the environmental situations it has been exposed to. Some of these factors include drugs, stress, hormones, diets, and sensory stimuli. [1] Neuroplasticity can be defined as the ability of the nervous system to respond to natural and abnormal stimuli experienced by the human body. The nervous system then reorganizes the brain’s structure and changes some of its function to theoretically repair itself by forming new neurons. [2] Neuroplasticity can occur during and in response to many different situations that occur throughout life. Some examples of these situations are learning, diseases, and going through therapy after an injury.
"Microchip Implants Closer to reality." The Futurist. 33.8 (1999): 9. Proquest Platinum. Proquest Information and Learning Co. Glenwood High School Lib., Chatham, IL 25 Oct. 2004
Melnik. "Cybernetics, genetic engineering and the future of psychotherapy." Journal of Interdisciplinary Studies, vol. 25, no. 1-2, 2013, p. 39+. General OneFile,
Until recently, our relationship with technology has been limited to physical and direct command. To get a device to take action, you must touch it, or speak to it. All of this could change with this new technology called, brain-computer interfaces. This amazing technology will not only revamp military applications, but most importantly help the medical community substantially. It brings the possibility of sound to the deaf, sight to the blind and movement to the physically challenged. However, with all great ideas there is a downside, there are many technical and ethical issues that people are not willing to risk.
When I was in third year of medical school, the knowledge that I obtained from neurology rotation helped me diagnose that my grandmother, with history of chronic liver disease, had the complication called decompensated cirrhosis and led to hepatic encephalopathy as she gradually had asterixis both of her hands along with declined cognitive function. Nevertheless, after bringing her to the hospital, her condition soon deteriorated to seizures, then she passed away as she went into coma. This was a devastating experience, however, my interest in Neuroscience started growing because I witnessed the clinical symptoms how the brain was affected by a toxic substance, ammonia, which was made by our bodies, was supposed to be metabolized by the healthy
Neuroscience Personal Statement How would society change if we could store our memories in our computers and alter the way our brains interact with the world? Movies like “Tron”, “Inception” and “The Matrix” caught my interest because of their ideas dealing with the brain and our abilities. I became interested in learning how we perceive and interact with reality; how our sensory organs rapidly send signals between the 100 billion neurons in our nervous system to piece together an image of where we are. I aim to understand how we might further utilize this process to develop an intricate connection between our brains and our ever advancing computers and technology. I have delved into learning different aspects of neuroscience.
Review of Literature Whole Brain Emulation, also known as mind uploading, is the theory that humans in the future will be able to transfer their own consciousness and personal identity into a computer or artificial brain (Hayworth, 2016). Even though there is a different variety of predicted ways to transfer the brain’s consciousness, the two main ways are gradual replacement and instantaneous replacement (Koene & Wiley, 2015). The goals of these processes are to transfer the human’s personal identity (Morris, 2013) Problems like reduplication and what type of procedure to use restrict us from transferring the human mind. (Morris, 2013).