Optogenetics Hardware Setup

It's not just the improvement in spatial resolution, but in temporal resolution, too. The ability to stimulate specific subpopulations on millisecond timescales basically means the precision of our surgical techniques is now probably the main bottleneck to more sophisticated control (alongside our own understanding of the interactions of different neuronal circuits).

I'd say it's not so much a matter of "if" Deisseroth and his colleagues win so much as when.

> I heard it does strange things to the mind to cut rat heads for an hour straight

I've spent a few years doing that. While I can see how the image might appear to folks who haven't been in that field, it's a bit hyperbolic to to think of it as a soul-bending meat grinder. Conducting an animal study in a reputable institution is regulated by an ethics committee with the purpose of scrutinizing scientific motivation and the care of animals. When you're clear on the purpose, methods, and minimum animal requirements, it isn't butchery. Furthermore, keeping the animals comfortable (through medication and other means) doesn't just serve to make the researcher feel good; it also eases stress on the animals, which otherwise can confound medical data. In short, it's a sophisticated professional endeavor, and the science gets more mindshare than the visceral unpleasantness of performing surgery on an animal. It has also been my experience that most people without experience in animal research can be quite surprised by the degree of similarity between animal care and use committees and human subject research review boards. Animal researchers can have a fairly high bar to clear to justify the use of vertebrate animals.