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Optogenetics involves engineering cells to make them light-responsive and then using a laser to control their activity—whether in a dish or a live animal. As a research tool, optogenetics is unquestionably powerful. But the technique requires genetic manipulation, which makes it less favorable for certain clinical uses.
“[Optogenetics] is super cool for animal work,” says Marta Cerruti, who studies biosynthetic interfaces at McGill University in Montreal, “but I think it would be more easily ethically approved” to control cells if it didn’t include genetic tinkering. In devising a new technique involving gold nanorods, biochemical engineer Zhou Nie of Hunan University in China and colleagues were able to control cells with light but without genetic manipulation. “That’s what I thought was really interesting,” says Cerruti.
Nie knew gold nanorods had potential. These nanometer-sized particles heat up when irradiated with near-infrared light, and this photothermal response is already ...
