Researchers Develop a New Set of Genetic Tools Designed to Treat Brain Diseases

Scientists from the Allen Institute for Brain Science, together with collaborators from the University of Washington, say they’ve put together a new kind of molecular toolkit that could eventually be used to treat a variety of brain diseases, possibly including epilepsy, sleep disorders, and Huntington’s disease. The kit contains more than 1,000 tools known as enhancer AAV vectors that can precisely target specific types of neurons in the brain while avoiding others.