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The burgeoning field of optogenetics makes it possible for scientists to control brain activity using pulses of light. Now, researchers have developed an optoelectronic device which opens the possibility of bidirectional communication with the brain—stimulating neural microcircuits while monitoring changes in neural activity.
The invention is a cortical microprobe that can stimulate multiple neuronal targets optically by specific patterns on a micrometer scale, while simultaneously recording the effects of that stimulation in underlying neural microcircuits with millisecond precision.Image credit: Nurmikko Lab/Brown University
