Andrew Huberman· PhD
Well, as you say, it's a very important milestone and the history of that is very deep. Almost 10 years earlier, Botond Rosca and I had published a paper in science in human retina, but X plants taken from cadavers from someone who had died, the living retina taken out, opsins put into this retinal tissue and showing that it worked, recording from the cells showing that in these human retinal neurons, that you could get light responses. But then, from that moment, almost 10 years of how clinical development goes, and this is a gene therapy and so you've got all the regulations and concerns and all that. It took almost 10 years to get to this point now where a living human being has a new functionality that wasn't there before. Now, that's incredibly inspiring, and it's a beautiful thing. I would say though, that the broader significance of optogenetics is really still understanding, because once you understand how the circuitry works and which cells actually matter, then any kind of treatment becomes more grounded and logical and specific and principled. And whether it's a medication, or a talk therapy or brain stimulation treatment with electrical or magnetic means, if you actually know what matters, [chuckles] that is incredibly powerful.