Israeli Lab ‘Switches Off’ Brain Connectors, Boosting Efforts To Treat Disorders

This article was first published by The Times of Israel and is re-posted with permission.

Israeli scientists have developed a way to switch off connectors that link different parts of the brain, in an advance they say could prove key to treating neurological disorders like epilepsy.

The innovation, which relies on a light-sensitive protein from mosquitos, was reported on Tuesday in the peer-reviewed journal Neuron. The breakthrough has been discussed in medical circles for several weeks, and dozens of neurobiology teams around the world are already ordering the protein and using the protocol in their own labs.

“Our new method is the first that allows scientists to increase or decrease the function of certain pathways that connect parts of the brain, or shut them off completely,” Prof. Ofer Yizhar of the Weizmann Institute of Science told The Times of Israel.

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