Optogenetics is an exciting new investigative field with considerable overlap with biophysics investigations. Among the leading investigators in this field is Viviana Gradinaru.

Gradinaru is an Assistant Professor of Biology and Biological Engineering at Caltech. She pioneered investigative techniques in optogenetics research which demonstrate that certain cells within the brain respond to photonic inputs of certain wavelengths to modify their function. This implies that brain tissue contains molecular structures capable of receiving and transducing light-based information. Does this mean the brain might also be using photons to communicate in line with earlier research on biophotons pioneered by German biophysicist Fritz Albert Popp? While much of Gradinaru’s initial work was being investigated in animal models, over the course of time it seems likely that it will find clinical applications in the treatment of a number of brain ailments, such as tremor reduction in people suffering from Parkinson’s Disease.

Her work also provides evidence confirming a hypothesis we put forward in the last chapter of our second book, which looks at how the brain may be using an analog form of computation in addition to all-or-nothing digital forms of communication provided by neurons.

Go here to learn more about Gradinaru’s lab and its research.

The following is a video of a lecture she gave at the Allen Institute for Brain Science Conference in Seattle, Washington in 2013.