Dr. Ithai Rabinowitch
A team of Hebrew University researchers have successfully used genetic engineering as a first step to what one day may allow scientists to genetically repair damaged brain circuits. The process, which was performed in tiny translucent C. elegans worms, saw the introduction of synthetically engineered connections (or synapses), as a means for bypassing missing connections between neurons in an impaired brain (
The team, led by Dr. Ithai Rabinowitch, a Neurobiologist in the Faculty of Medicine at Hebrew University, applied the genetically engineered bypass to repair a failed odor response in the worms due to neuronal loss. With the synthetic bypass network in place, the worms successfully responded to the odor stimuli, a behavior that was diminished in the absence of the genetically engineered “fix.” The study, published in Cell Systems was jointly led by Dr. Jihong Bai of the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, Washington.