I doubt there are too many who are interested in knowing about this on Goanet. But it is good to know that at least one guy has finally become fascinated by brain science.
Cheers, Santosh ----- Original Message ----- > From: Jim Fernandes <amigo...@att.net> > To: estb. 1994! Goa's premiere mailing list <goanet@lists.goanet.org> > Cc: > Sent: Thursday, March 27, 2014 1:46 PM > Subject: [Goanet] Off Topic: Top Dog > > Folks, > > The Human Genome Project was primarily initiated by the US DoE/NIH a few > years > ago. While the project is considered to be an international effort to > decipher > the human genome, majority of the work was completed by the Americans along > with > Craig Venter and his team. The outcome of that project is driving countless > research programs to improve human health. > > Recently, President Obama proposed to increase funding (from $100MM in 2014 > to > $200MM in 2015) for research towards mapping the human brain activity. The > program named BRAIN (Brain Research through Advanced Innovative > Neurotechnologies) - is expected to help us better understand how the human > brain functions at the cellular level. Because of America's never ending > commitment to cutting edge research, is the reason I believe, the US will > continue to be the Top Dog technologically (and therefore militarily). > > While reading more about the subject, I stumbled upon the work of a young > researcher named Ed Boyden. This guy is a genius; I would not be surprised if > he > wins the Nobel prize in medicine in the near future. He has done some > pioneering > research in controlling brain cells using light - an area of research known > as > "Optogenetics". By transferring a light sensitive gene from an algae > to a mammalian model, he was able to switch ON or OFF a neuron at will, > using light source belonging to certain frequencies. The implications of > these > findings are far reaching. For the benefit of those that may be interested to > know more about this stuff on GoaNet, I have included a couple of links about > Ed > Boyden - one link is an interesting video from MIT where he teaches and the > second link is from CNN (a bit dated), but its enough to get you hooked and > bring you up to speed. > > http://mcgovern.mit.edu/news/videos/optogenetics-a-light-switch-for-neurons/ > > http://www.cnn.com/2013/03/31/health/boyden-brain-map/ > > Regards, > > Jim F > New York. >
