Optogenetics: an overview

Approximately one in six people have a mental health issue. With the frequency of diagnosed neurological disorders on the rise, cures and remedies for these issues are becoming the focus of many researchers. There are three traditional routes that professionals use to treat mental health problems: pharmaceuticals, electrostimulation, and talk therapy. Although drugs have proven successful in alleviating certain symptoms, they essentially bathe the brain in chemicals. Many of these have side effects that outweigh the benefits of the medication. Electrostimulation has had a bright past, being used to treat diseases such as Parkinson’s Disease and depression. However, similar to pharmaceuticals, there are many negative side effects that go along with this method, considering electricity flows in all directions and follows the path of least resistance. Both of these treatments affect normal and abnormal parts of the brain. An ability to precisely target information to the negatively affected areas of the brain is essential for treating neurological disorders.