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Neuroscientists develop new tools to safely trace brain circuits
Scientists at Columbia University's Mortimer B. Zuckerman Mind Brain Behavior Institute have developed a new viral tool that dramatically expands scientists' ability to probe the activity and circuitry of brain cells, or neurons, in the mouse brain. These findings highlight an innovative feat of molecular engineering that allows the creation of a more complete map of the brain's cellular circuits and will help researchers on their way toward unraveling the mysteries of the brain.
This research was reported today in the journal Neuron.
"At its core, every sensation, thought and movement depends on how the brain's billions of neurons communicate through a complex system of circuits," said Thomas M. Jessell, PhD, the paper's co-senior author and a director of the Zuckerman Institute. "In this study, we developed a strain of rabies that greatly improves our ability to map these circuits, which can lend insight into how these circuits direct behavior—in health and in disease," added Dr. Jessell, who is also the Claire Tow professor of neuroscience and of biochemistry and molecular biophysics at Columbia.
Because rabies only infects neurons, scientists have long worked to create a modified, safer version of the virus that can travel from cell to cell in the brain—lighting a path as it goes—providing a kind of visual map of connections. Researchers had struggled to find success, until eight years ago, when a team from the Salk Institute created an innovative new system.
Using the rabies strain normally reserved for inoculations, Salk researchers led by Edward Callaway found a way to control the virus' spread by manually tweaking its ability to jump from cell to cell. This advance, while revolutionary, came with drawbacks. As an inoculation strain, this older rabies virus had evolved to kill neurons while sparing the organism. This caused neurons to die just a few days after infection—too little time to construct an adequate map of a brain circuit.
"It was like trying to draw a detailed map of New York City but you only had a minute to do so—so you were left with a woefully incomplete picture," said Thomas Reardon, the paper's co-first author and a doctoral candidate at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC). "So for this study, we looked to a different version of the virus, which would allow neurons to live much longer."
Working with acclaimed virologist Matthias Schnell, PhD, and his team at Thomas Jefferson University, the scientists took this strain of rabies and essentially neutered the virus so that it would still spread but without killing the organism. Using this new strain, neurons in the mouse brain lived for more than a month, allowing a greater window of time than ever before in which to map the circuit. The team could then direct the viral infection just as Salk scientists had done but without risking premature cell death.
"While this strain is specific to the mouse brain, the applications for this advance are far-reaching," said Attila Losonczy, MD, PhD, an assistant professor of neuroscience at CUMC, a principal investigator at the Zuckerman Institute and a co-senior author of this study. "For example, scientists could engineer a molecular payload, attach it to the modified rabies virus, and control specific neurons or groups ofneurons"
"Ideally, we envision a strain of rabies virus that would be so safe and so malleable that we can enlist it to fight diseases of the brain," said Andrew Murray, PhD, a postdoctoral fellow at CUMC and the co-first author of the paper. "It is our hope that scientists can improve upon our strain and transform rabies virus into a vector to fight disease."
"Our study also speaks to a broader theme in science: that the most revolutionary scientific tools do not originate in the lab, but instead come from nature itself," added Reardon. "Evolution has already invented the rabies virus—all we had to do was to co-opt it."
Explore further: How rabies "hijacks" neurons to attack the brain
More information: "Rabies virus CVS-N2cG strain enhances retrograde synaptic transfer and neuronal viability," Neuron, 2016.
Journal reference: Neuron
Provided by: Columbia University
Source: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2016-01-neuroscientists-tools-safely-brain-circuits.html
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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