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Illuminating next-generation brain therapies

Nature Neuroscience volume 19, pages 414–416 (2016)Cite this article

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A clinical trial inspired and guided by optogenetics experiments in rodents reports the outcome of targeted transcranial magnetic stimulation in patients suffering from cocaine addiction.

Addiction is a poorly understood and heavily stigmatized disease. Substance abuse– and dependence-related conditions afflict 1 in 20 people worldwide, tear individual lives and families apart, and cause hundreds of billions of dollars a year in crime, loss of productivity and health care costs in the US alone1. Potential treatments are complicated by side effects and inconsistent efficacy. New ideas are needed.

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Figure 1: A clinical trial for patients with cocaine addiction guided by rodent optogenetics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Emily Ferenczi and Karl Deisseroth are in the Department of Bioengineering, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA,

    Emily Ferenczi & Karl Deisseroth

  2. Karl Deisseroth is in the Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Department of Psychiatry & Behavioral Sciences, Stanford University, Stanford, California, USA.,

    Karl Deisseroth

Authors
  1. Emily Ferenczi
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  2. Karl Deisseroth
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Correspondence to Karl Deisseroth.

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Competing interests

K.D. is a consultant and shareholder of Circuit Therapeutics Inc., a start-up company building platforms for drug discovery and nervous system intervention with optogenetics.

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Ferenczi, E., Deisseroth, K. Illuminating next-generation brain therapies. Nat Neurosci 19, 414–416 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nn.4232

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