Elin's

Seeking Next-Gen Probes

By Thomas Deerinck, NCMIR

For over 20 years, Tom has worked at UCSD’s Department of Neurosciences and the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research under the tutelage of Mark Ellisman, founder and director of NCMIR. Tom specializes in developing and applying new imaging techniques for biologists, including robotic serial blockface scanning EM (pioneered by Winfried Denk and others), which he believes will revolutionize EM imaging in biology. Tom is currently collaborating with Roger Tsien to develop the “next generation” of imaging probes for live-cell light and electron microscopies.

Image: Quadruple fluorescence image revealing the complexity of the optic fiber layer of a mouse retina. Optic nerve axons and glial cells are stained red and green, respectively while actin in the blood vessel-ensheathing endothelial cells are stained blue. DNA and RNA are in orange. The image was acquired by confocal microscopy.

Dec 14

LSD has been used in psychiatry for its perceived therapeutic value, in the treatment of alcoholism, pain and cluster headache relief, for spiritual purposes, and to enhance creativity. However, government organizations like the United States Drug Enforcement Administration maintain that LSD “produces no aphrodisiac effects, does not increase creativity, has no lasting positive effect in treating alcoholics or criminals, does not produce a ‘model psychosis’, and does not generate immediate personality change.”

Alcoholism

Some studies in the 1960s that used LSD to treat alcoholism reduced levels of alcohol misuse in almost 60% of those treated, an effect which lasted six months but disappeared after a year. A 1998 review was inconclusive. However, a 2012 meta-analysis of six randomized controlled trials found evidence that a single dose of LSD in conjunction with various alcoholism treatment programs was associated with a decrease in alcohol abuse, lasting for several months^.

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