29 May 2015 (00:57 UTC-07 Tango 01)/08 Kordad 1394/10 Sha’ban 1436/12 Xin Si (4th month) 4713

“If you test memory recall with natural recall triggers in an anisomycin-treated animal, it will be amnesiac, you cannot induce memory recall. But if you go directly to the putative engram-bearing cells and activate them with light, you can restore the memory, despite the fact that there has been no LTP.”-Susumu Tonegawa, MIT

Researchers with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)  claim they can restore lost memories using light.  At this point it involves mice suffering from amnesia only.

The process involves proteins, engram cells and optogenetic tools.  Susumu Tonegawa says “We are proposing a new concept, in which there is an engram cell ensemble pathway, or circuit, for each memory. This circuit encompasses multiple brain areas and the engram cell ensembles in these areas are connected specifically for a particular memory.”

The research was published in the journal Science.