When a beating heart slips into an irregular, life-threatening rhythm, the treatment is well known: deliver a burst of electric current from a pacemaker or defibrillator.
But because the electricity itself can cause pain, tissue damage and other serious side-effects, a Johns Hopkins-led research team wants to replace these jolts with a kinder, gentler remedy: light.
In a paper published Aug. 28 in the online journal Nature Communications, five biomedical engineers from Johns Hopkins and Stony Brook universities described their plan to use biological lab data and an intricate computer model to devise a better way to heal ailing hearts. Other scientists are already using light-sensitive cells to control certain activities in the brain. The Johns Hopkins-Stony Brook researchers say they plan to give this technique a cardiac twist so that doctors in the near future will be able to use low-energy light to solve serious heart problems such as arrhythmia.
“Applying electricity to the heart has its drawbacks,” said the project’s supervisor, Natalia Trayanova, the Murray B. Sachs Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins. “When we use a defibrillator, it’s like blasting open a door because we don’t have the key. It applies too much force and too little finesse. We want to control this treatment in a more intelligent way. We think it’s possible to use light to reshape the behavior of the heart without blasting it.”
To achieve this, Trayanova’s team is diving into the field of optogenetics, which is only about a decade old. Pioneered by scientists at Stanford, optogenetics refers to the insertion of light-responsive proteins called opsins into cells. When exposed to light, these proteins become tiny portals within the target cells, allowing a stream of ions—an electric charge—to pass through. Early researchers have begun using this tactic to control the bioelectric behavior of certain brain cells, forming a first step toward treating psychiatric disorders with light.
In the Nature Communications paper, the researchers reported that they had successfully tested this same technique on a heart—one that “beats” inside a computer. Trayanova has spent many years developing highly detailed computer models of the heart that can simulate cardiac behavior from the molecular and cellular levels all the way up to that of the heart as a whole. At Johns Hopkins, she directs the Computational Cardiology Lab within the Institute for Computational Medicine.
As detailed in the journal article, the Johns Hopkins computer model for treating the heart with light incorporates biological data from the Stony Brook lab of Emilia Entcheva, an associate professor of biomedical engineering. The Stony Brook collaborators are working on techniques to make heart tissue light-sensitive by inserting opsins into some cells. They also will test how these cells respond when illuminated. “Experiments from this lab generated the data we used to build our computer model for this project,” Trayanova said. “As the Stony Brook lab generates new data, we will use it to refine our model.”
In Trayanova’s own lab, her team members will use this model to conduct virtual experiments. They will try to determine how to position and control the light-sensitive cells to help the heart maintain a healthy rhythm and pumping activity. They will also try to gauge how much light is needed to activate the healing process. The overall goal is to use the computer model to push the research closer to the day when doctors can begin treating their heart patients with gentle light beams. The researchers say it could happen within a decade.
The Latest Bing News on:
Optogenetics
- Illusion Unveils Mysteries: Experiments Suggest Brightness Perception Deeper in the Brainon April 29, 2024 at 6:19 pm
For the first time, research shows that a certain kind of visual illusion, neon color spreading, works on mice. The study is also the first to combine the use of two investigative techniques called el ...
- Mice are bamboozled by these baffling optical illusions... and so am Ion April 29, 2024 at 6:55 am
We love a good optical illusion here at Creative Bloq. We even have a round up of the best optical illusions around. And after all the time we've spent trying to get our heads around them, it comes as ...
- Beyond Human Perception: Study Unlocks Secrets Of Consciousnesson April 28, 2024 at 4:31 am
The study introduces the phenomenon of neon color spreading, an optical illusion observed in humans, and explores its effects on mice for the first time.
- Lab-made miniorgans take scientists a step closer to curing canceron April 25, 2024 at 8:34 am
In the fight to cure cancer, scientists need better models. And they might just get them — human-derived organoids — thanks to light.
- Mini-colons advance colorectal cancer researchon April 24, 2024 at 8:00 am
In a breakthrough for cancer research, scientists at EPFL have created lab-grown mini-colons that can accurately mimic the development of colorectal tumors, offering a powerful new tool for studying ...
- Restoring sight is possible now with optogeneticson April 23, 2024 at 3:30 am
Several companies are experimenting with optogenetics to create a “bionic eye” that can restore sight in visually impaired people.
- Optogenetics Illuminates Cerebellum's Role in Neuroprostheticson April 15, 2024 at 9:24 am
The field of neuroprosthetics, which enables the brain to operate external devices like robotic limbs, is starting to gain traction as a potential treatment option for individuals who are ...
- How the Brain Learns to Perform Quickly Without Overthinkingon April 8, 2024 at 9:56 pm
Before the early 2000s, scientific lab technologies and tools (such as optogenetics) currently used to test how climbing fibers and Purkinje cells work together during cerebellar learning didn't ...
- Optogenetics For 100 Euroson August 4, 2017 at 12:49 am
Larval zebrafish, Drosophila (fruit fly), and Caenorhabditis elegans (roundworm) have become key model organisms in modern neuroscience due to their low maintenance costs and easy sharing of ...
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Optogenetics
[google_news title=”” keyword=”optogenetics” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
The Latest Bing News on:
Making heart tissue light-sensitive
- Healthy teeth are wondrous and priceless – a dentist explains why and how best to protect themon May 2, 2024 at 5:23 am
They light up our smiles, we use them to speak and we chew with ... ligament and bone grip the tooth at its root portion that is buried under the gum. The ligament, a soft tissue that is about 0.2 ...
- A magnetic liquid makes for an injectable sensor in living tissueon April 30, 2024 at 5:00 pm
The researchers used their substance to make liquid bioelectronics that can be injected into the body and later retrieved. These devices seamlessly attach to biological tissue and convert ...
- 'Seeing the invisible': New tech enables deep tissue imaging during surgeryon April 29, 2024 at 5:45 pm
Hyperspectral imaging (HSI) is a state-of-the-art imaging technique useful for determining the composition of a variety of objects. Specifically, over-thousand-nanometer (OTN) HSI is particularly ...
- This young KC activist and local artists battle social justice problems on stageon April 29, 2024 at 10:18 am
This Kansas City artist activist and his band of players do battle for social justice on stage with their performance art ...
- Anne Hathaway Is Done Trying to Pleaseon April 27, 2024 at 2:02 am
On the debut of ‘The Interview,' the actress talks to David Marchese about learning to let go of other people’s opinions.
- Best Weed Pens of 2024: 6 THC Dab Pens for Relaxationon April 24, 2024 at 3:32 pm
(Ad) As the vaping industry continues to evolve and expand, the market is flooded with a wide variety of weed pens, making it challenging for both ... report physical sensations such as increased ...
- Mini-colon and brain ‘organoids’ shed light on cancer and other diseaseson April 23, 2024 at 5:00 pm
When the researchers injected the cancerous cells into mice, the tumours looked similar to those seen in human colorectal cancer. The organoids accumulated fewer tumours when the researchers ...
- 59 practical yet thoughtful Mother’s Day gifts for the mom who has everythingon April 23, 2024 at 10:52 am
When it comes to giving a practical gift for Mother’s Day it’s important to find the sweet spot of items that are useful but also feel like a true gift.
- Why can zebrafish regenerate damaged heart tissue, while other fish species cannot?on April 20, 2024 at 12:07 pm
A heart attack will leave a permanent scar on a human heart, yet other animals, including zebrafish, can clear cardiac scar tissue and regrow damaged muscle as adults. Biologists sheds new light on ...
- Why zebrafish can regenerate damaged heart tissue, while other fish species cannoton April 19, 2024 at 8:16 am
A heart attack will leave a permanent scar on a human heart, yet other animals, including some fish and amphibians, can clear cardiac scar tissue and regrow damaged muscle as adults.
The Latest Google Headlines on:
Making heart tissue light-sensitive
[google_news title=”” keyword=”making heart tissue light-sensitive” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]