People can
control prosthetic limbs, computer programs and even remote-controlled
helicopters with their mind, all by using brain-computer interfaces. What if we
could harness this technology to control things happening inside our own body?
A team of bioengineers in Switzerland has taken the first step toward this
cyborglike setup by combining a brain-computer interface with a synthetic
biological implant, allowing a genetic switch to be operated by brain activity.
It is the world's first brain-gene interface. The group started with a typical
brain-computer interface, an electrode cap that can register subjects' brain
activity and transmit signals to another electronic device. In this case, the
device is an electromagnetic field generator; different types of brain activity
cause the field to vary in strength. The next step, however, is totally new—the
experimenters used the electromagnetic field to trigger protein production
within human cells in an implant in mice. The implant uses a cutting-edge
technology known as optogenetics.
The researchers
inserted bacterial genes into human kidney cells, causing them to produce
light-sensitive proteins. Then they bioengineered the cells so that stimulating
them with light triggers a string of molecular reactions that ultimately
produces a protein called secreted alkaline phosphatase (SEAP), which is easily
detectable. They then placed the human cells plus an LED light into small
plastic pouches and inserted them under the skin of several mice. Human
volunteers wearing electrode caps either played Minecraft or meditated,
generating moderate or large electromagnetic fields, respectively, from a
platform on which the mice stood. The field activates the implant's infrared
LED, which triggers the production of SEAP. The protein then diffuses across
membranes in the implant into the mice's bloodstream. Playing Minecraft
produced moderate levels of SEAP in the mice's bloodstream, and meditating
produced high levels. A third type of mental control, known as biofeedback,
involved the volunteers watching the light, thereby turning SEAP production on
or off.
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