#  Gero Miesenböck among 2019 Warren Alpert Prizewinners 

 





July 18, 2019

 

 

 Gero Miesenböck was named one of the recipients of the 2019 Warren Alpert prize. The 2019 prize honors Miesenböck and others for groundbreaking work "illuminating the brain" in the area of optogenetics. Read more about the prize and its recipients at the [2019 prize announcement page on the Warren Alpert Prize website](https://warrenalpert.org/news/2019-warren-alpert-prize-recipients-announced).

 Quoting from that webpage, **"**Miesenböck genetically incorporated light-detecting proteins derived from the eyes of flies—light-sensing molecules called rhodopsins—into nerve cells. This achievement did not merely render neurons sensitive to light but also offered a way to control their activity remotely. ... When a flash of light hits one of these molecular channels, the channel opens up, an electrical current is switched on and the neuron fires, activating the circuit in which it resides.**"**



 

 

 



 

 

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