LED Lights Control Mice Movements

Scientists working with mice have to be careful about a lot things, the mice running away being the least of the problems. This remote-control LED chip can make a mouse completely in its trance by activating neurons in its brain, with light stimulation of peripheral nerves.

While the movement of the mice can be influenced, this chip is tiny and thus eliminates the use of those giant cables.

“This is a new way of delivering wireless power for optogenetics,” said Ada Poon, an assistant professor of electrical engineering at Stanford. “It’s much smaller and the mouse can move around during an experiment.”

This LED chip provided the field of optogenetics the needed boost. This chip can be used to interpret and diagnose the behavioural and motor aspects of Parkinson’s disease. This chip weighs just 20-50 milligrams and can be easily sneaked into the brain, or spine, or limbs of a mice. But Poon also realised that a mice housing the chip, would be used to power the chip as. A 2 mm coil could be the powerhouse of the chip, collecting the energy from the mice.

To rest your fear now, this chip cannot be extended to the human brain. For functioning, this LED requires light activated proteins called opsins, which are found only in special mice genetically altered to express them.

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