Scientists at Yale have genetically designed triggers in the brains of fruit flies that allow the flies’ behaviour to be controlled with laser light.

The light controls alter how the flies jump, beat their wings and fly in an escape response. The controls can also activate dopamine neurons that stimulated walking and affected the types of paths the flies chose to follow. Loss of dopamine cell activity in humans underlies Parkinson’s disease.

Gero Miesenböck, who leads the study, explained: “This is a significant step toward moving neuroscience to active and predictive manipulation of behavior.”

The researchers anticipate that a future remote control system could help study how neural circuits function and how cell actions and connections are related to more complex behaviours like learning, aggression and even abstract thought. The optical controls might also enable the construction of “bionic” computers — hybrid devices in which neural circuits are interfaced with electronic circuits.

Via Eurekalert < Cell. Picture from Lewis Trondheim.