Light-Driven Molecular Nanomachines to Treat Pain and Neurodegenerative Disorders
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
Imagine exposing a person to a particular wavelength of light and having a predetermined species of neuron shut down for as long as that light is on. Then a second light comes in to turn another neuron off, or turn one on, and so on. That's what an emerging group of researchers and a couple of start-up companies hope to be able to do, to potentially treat a variety of neurological conditions from chronic pain to seizures to spinal cord injury and even eye diseases.
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