WEBVTT 1 00:00:13.000 --> 00:00:16.000 Light is almost omnipresent in our daily life. 2 00:00:16.001 --> 00:00:18.000 For the most part we only notice its absence. 3 00:00:18.001 --> 00:00:20.500 During the day, the sun provides us with light 4 00:00:20.501 --> 00:00:23.300 But we’re always surrounded by artificial light sources. 5 00:00:26.000 --> 00:00:30.000 In nature, light is an important information medium. 6 00:00:30.001 --> 00:00:34.500 Organisms interact with light in different ways. 7 00:00:34.501 --> 00:00:41.960 It only makes sense to utilize these mechanisms that occur in nature. 8 00:00:42.000 --> 00:00:46.000 We can transmit energy. But we can also transmit information. 9 00:00:46.760 --> 00:00:50.400 And we can control the timing and location very accurately. 10 00:00:50.401 --> 00:00:58.000 Light is the perfect tool for precise procedures. 11 00:01:02.800 --> 00:01:07.000 Optogenetics imitates nature’s mechanisms. 12 00:01:07.001 --> 00:01:14.480 There are molecules that can detect light and translate it 13 00:01:14.481 --> 00:01:19.000 into something the body can identify and process. 14 00:01:19.001 --> 00:01:24.000 Think of it as a tunnel in the cells that normally is closed. 15 00:01:24.001 --> 00:01:27.200 Light provides information, the tunnel opens, 16 00:01:27.201 --> 00:01:29.200 and the molecules can flow into the cells: 17 00:01:29.201 --> 00:01:36.000 a signal that the cell understands and that can be passed on to other cells in the organism. 18 00:01:36.001 --> 00:01:40.600 The molecules responsible for this process are encoded in the genome. 19 00:01:44.121 --> 00:01:47.960 and even transfer it into other cells – the target cells. 20 00:01:47.961 --> 00:01:52.240 That’s how science and medical applications can utilize it. 21 00:01:59.241 --> 00:02:00.240 This opens the door to visionary thinking… 22 00:02:04.241 --> 00:02:07.240 Neural networks can be precisely controlled from the exterior. 23 00:02:07.241 --> 00:02:11.120 This helps us to examine the effects of a new active ingredient, 24 00:02:11.121 --> 00:02:15.600 or how diseases like Alzheimer’s evolve. 25 00:02:15.601 --> 00:01:18.280 But there is also potential for application in biotechnology. 26 00:02:18.281 --> 00:02:26.160 Optogenetically modified plants can use new metabolic pathways at the touch of a button. 27 00:02:26.161 --> 00:02:27.560 Biohybrid Robotics. 28 00:02:27.561 --> 00:02:36.160 We can construct robots that work on a muscular cell basis and can be controlled by optogenetics. 29 00:02:36.161 --> 00:02:41.160 There are vast application possibilities. 30 00:02:41.161 --> 00:02:46.760 That’s why it’s impossible to imagine all future benefits. 31 00:02:46.761 --> 00:02:52.360 This is a world that needs to be thoroughly explored.