"MIT scientist among three recognized for the discovery of optogenetics

by Julie Pryor

Ed Boyden, the Y. Eva Tan Professor in Neurotechnology at MIT, has been named a recipient of the 2018 Canada Gairdner International Award — Canada’s most prestigious scientific prize — for his role in the discovery of light-gated ion channels and optogenetics, a technology to control brain activity with light.

Boyden’s work has given neuroscientists the ability to precisely activate or silence brain cells to see how they contribute to – or possibly alleviate – brain disease. By optogenetically controlling brain cells, it has become possible to understand how specific patterns of brain activity might be used to quiet seizures, cancel out Parkinsonian tremors and make other improvements to brain health.

Boyden is one of three scientists the Gairdner Foundation is honoring for this work. He shares the prize with Peter Hegemann from Humboldt University of Berlin and Karl Deisseroth from Stanford University..."

Read the full story on the McGovern Institute website using the link below.