This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Scientists can now edit genes in precise locations deep in the brain and body without the use of invasive surgery or implants, thanks to new work from researchers at the Wu Tsai Neurosciences Institute. The team demonstrated its technique, which uses a combination of ultrasound, light-emitting nanoparticles and photo-controllable gene-editing proteins, by successfully altering genes in mouse brains at selected locations.
The work—the latest advance in controlling the ever-expanding universe of CRISPR-family gene editors—was published in Cell and led by Wu Tsai Neuro Faculty Scholar Guosong Hong, an associate professor of materials science and engineering at Stanford Engineering, and Michael Lin, a professor of neurobiology and bioengineering at Stanford Medicine and Stanford Engineering. Widely used gene-editing technologies such as CRISPR, the topic of the 2020 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, have given researchers tools for gene editing, but they have important limitations. Notably, targeting a gene with CRISPR typically means targeting it throughout the whole body—a problem if, for example, doctors want to treat chronic pain in one area without affecting others.
While targeting specific areas of the body is possible, it requires invasive techniques—for example, implanted nanoscaffolds that release CRISPR tools and affect just a handful of cells. "Biologists have figured out a way of controlling whether any given gene can be edited," said Lin. "But we wanted to extend the question not just of which gene you can inactivate, but where you can edit it." Light offers a powerful way to manipulate and study biological activity.
Over the past decade or so, scientists have figured out how to engineer proteins and cellular processes that can be switched on and off with illumination. The development of one such technique, optogenetics, earned Lin and Hong's Stanford colleague Karl Deisseroth the 2026 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine. But there's a challenge, whether researchers are deploying optogenetics or editing genes: Light doesn't travel far through biological tissue, making it difficult to reach deep targets without surgical implants or other invasive methods, which the researchers were keen to avoid.
Hong had some ideas about how to overcome that limitation. His group developed nanoparticles that can circulate in the bloodstream and light up when struck by focused ultrasound, which penetrates tissue much more deeply than light. Meanwhile, Lin's lab had been engineering a CRISPR-Cas9 gene editor that could be switched on with light.
About six years ago, Hong and a graduate student approached Lin looking for ways to put their remotely controlled light source to work in genetics. The researchers realized that combining their technologies could give them precise control over where gene editing occurred. Discover the latest in science, tech, and space with over 100,000 subscribers who rely on Phys.org for daily insights. d research that matter—daily or weekly.
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