Shining the light on #MeTooMedicine

Shining a light on optogenetics

O ptogenetics is relatively new and has attracted much interest since the first publications from the field in the early 2000s. Both researchers and the media are fascinated by the notions it conjures of bionic implants. Notwithstanding potential applications, the technology has quickly become an important research tool in neuroscience with potential for developing a range of novel therapeutic ...

Shining light on "Dark Winter".

On 22--23 June 2001, the Johns Hopkins Center for Civilian Biodefense Strategies, in collaboration with the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Analytic Services Institute for Homeland Security, and the Oklahoma National Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism, held a senior-level exercise entitled "Dark Winter" that simulated a covert smallpox attack on the United St...

Shining light on the Sunshine Act.

INTRODUCTION Section 6002 of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, also known as the Sunshine Act, requires that manufacturers report payments or other transfers of value made to physicians and teaching hospitals [1,2]. The tracking of such payments goes into effect on August 1, 2013, and the new rules could affect radiologists. In this column, I pose and answer several questions rega...

Shining a light on the Sunshine Act.

Shining new light on the brain

Optogenetics - a new methodology that involves expression of light-responsive proteins in specific groups of neurons, which can then be activated with light - has only been around for six years, but some researchers are already using it to target big psychiatric questions. Michael Gross reports.