DREADDs --- Designer Receptors Exclusively Activated By Designer Drugs

A double-edged sword? I sure hope everybody's heart is truly in the right place. The potential to misuse this technology scares the bejeebus out of me. Am I overly concerned? Does the good totally outweigh the scary possibilities?

Remember when we were talking about the Aurora theater shootings by James Holmes here at ATS and our discussion drifted into the murky waters of conspiracy concerning the possibility that he was being manipulated and directed somehow? We discussed the bulky gear he was wearing and how he seemed to be playing some kind of interactive game. We speculated that because he was involved in the field of neuroscience and had received an NIH grant, perhaps he had "sold his soul to the devil of government experimental clinical trials". Perhaps we were a bit over the top back then, but now I wonder about the possibilities of such technology.

BRAIN Initiative yields results

The technique used to control neurons is called DREADDs (designer receptors exclusively activated by designer drugs).
Brain neurons are genetically engineered to produce a custom-made - "designer" - receptor. When the receptor gathers in a manmade molecule that fits like a key in a lock, the neuron is activated.

Because the receptor does not respond to other molecules, including natural ones in the brain, the only way to activate the neurons is via the manmade one. DREADDs allow scientists to manipulate neurons without implanting anything in the brain.

DREADDs, invented about a decade ago, had been used to turn neurons on or off, but not both. DREADDs 2.0 are the first to do that, scientists led by Bryan Roth of the University of North Carolina reported in Neuron.
Targeting hunger-promoting neurons, the scientists made mice ignore food bowls or dive into them. Targeting movement neurons, they made mice scamper or stop.

In a competing remote-control technique called optogenetics, engineered neurons are activated upon receiving a pulse of light. That turns them on and off more quickly than with DREADDs, but the hardware required for delivering light to a spot in the brain is invasive and cumbersome.

That's just creepy.

You could "activate" someone to go into a complete mental blackout, hand them a gun, push them through the door and then when the DREADD wears off, they'd have no memory of what they did.

You could hide the receptor activating drug in food, a drink...

Beware of new "friends" I always say...

EDIT: Oh, and you know if this is just now being "discovered" -- it probably means they've been tinkering around with this in a DARPA lab someplace for a decade or more.

We have been using DREADD receptor technology in a cell-specific manner to unravel the role of striatal circuits in neuropsychiatric disorders, such as drug addiction and obsessive–compulsive disorder.

Ok...

More recently, we have examined the role of striatonigral neurons in a simple operant learning task. We found that transiently inhibiting activity of these neurons in the dorsal striatum of rats interfered with the acquisition of lever pressing for a sugar reward (see Figure 1), indicating that activation of the striatonigral pathway is required for action–outcome learning. This data suggests that dysregulation of striatal circuits may therefore contribute to the development of the aberrant reward and reinforcement learning that is common to many neuropsychiatric disorders.

Nature.com

Also, it mentions that they use a virus to get these new receptors into the mouse brains. They call it a "viral vector":

We developed viral vectors that use neuropeptide promoters (dynorphin or enkephalin) to target DREADD receptor expression to specific cell populations in the striatum (striatonigral versus striatopallidal neurons, respectively).

Okay, so who's to say that there hasn't been a lab containment breach and we're all infected with a DREADD virus and have no clue? All they'd have to do is "activate" it by putting something in the water, air, or food supply.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
That's just creepy.

You could "activate" someone to go into a complete mental blackout, hand them a gun, push them through the door and then when the DREADD wears off, they'd have no memory of what they did.

You could hide the receptor activating drug in food, a drink...

Beware of new "friends" I always say...

EDIT: Oh, and you know if this is just now being "discovered" -- it probably means they've been tinkering around with this in a DARPA lab someplace for a decade or more.

It's like you channeled my thoughts word for word.

In a book I just finished the "good guys" had to spread an antigen to the world's population to prevent an alien autoimmune virus from wiping out the population. It didn't take years for the antigen to spread worldwide.

So now we're creating artificial brain receptors that can tweak behavior ...

This would tie in nicely with pandemic and vaccine conspiracies. Imagine if you could turn the entire world's population docile, aggressive or apathetic by releasing a chemical into the enviroment, as easy as flipping a chemical "switch".

We could all be infected with a DREADD virus right now and never realize it because it's new and tests aren't developed to screen for it.

a reply to: queenofswords

The information presented in the original post is valid.

From governmental sources:

Several novel strategies using engineered receptors activated by synthetic ligands or by light have recently ushered in a new era of brain research that allows for precise experimental manipulation of neuronal activity.

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov...

Neuroscientists have perfected a chemical-genetic remote control for brain circuitry and behavior. This evolving technology can now sequentially switch the same neurons – and the behaviors they mediate – on-and-off in mice

www.nimh.nih.gov...

Uh-oh. This inventions feels like a candidate for the very definition of "bad idea".

a reply to: swanne

I think most of us have a conundrum. We want advancements in neuroscience to find ways to eliminate diseases and conditions affecting humans, but we also have legitimate concerns about the possibility of misuse and abuse.

The BRAIN Initiative is wrapped up in all the good and helpful language of hope in finding cures for various things, but when you discover that agencies such as DARPA and companies such as Google are partners, you can't help but see red flags popping up.

Designer receptors ACTIVATED by Designer Drugs????? What? How? Who? Where? When?

a reply to: queenofswords

That's the thing...receptor activation regulates almost everything we do...

So instead of looking at a lock and trying to make a key that fits, we're just going to go ahead and create new locks and keys alltogether!

And, we can use a virus to make you "grow" these new receptors! A virus like this could spread world-wide and no one would know because it can't be tested for.

Don't get me wrong, this has immense positive application -- but it also has some terrifying potential negative uses. If this were used the wrong way, we could all be "switched on" to act morose, depressed, suicidal, or violent. You could wake up one day to find the world literally has gone "mad".

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: queenofswords

That's the thing...receptor activation regulates almost everything we do...

So instead of looking at a lock and trying to make a key that fits, we're just going to go ahead and create new locks and keys alltogether!

And, we can use a virus to make you "grow" these new receptors! A virus like this could spread world-wide and no one would know because it can't be tested for.

Don't get me wrong, this has immense positive application -- but it also has some terrifying potential negative uses. If this were used the wrong way, we could all be "switched on" to act morose, depressed, suicidal, or violent. You could wake up one day to find the world literally has gone "mad".

You seem pretty knowledgeable about the mechanics of all this. Do you know if it would be possible to take someone like a Holmes, apply this technology and manipulate him to perform by the direction of someone else?

I DREADD hearing about stuff like this. Another zombi drug that can be used against us.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Okay, so who's to say that there hasn't been a lab containment breach and we're all infected with a DREADD virus and have no clue? All they'd have to do is "activate" it by putting something in the water, air, or food supply.

Or...hide it inside a vaccine. Not the regular kids' vaccines either, before anyone gets their knickers in a twist, but one such as the influenza vaccine that we always had a monstrous shortage of up until three years ago, when we magically had a surplus and they were setting up mobile units all over my home city, and getting really nasty and pushy with people who declined to be vaccinated (like myself; I have SLE and cannot take egg-based vaccines due to an allergy, so they are not injecting me with that crap, and they get really pissy about it too).

There was a reason for all of that, and it wasn't simple public health concerns either...the "at risk" groups for viruses like the flu has not changed, nor has there been any concrete reason to push vaccinations the way they have been. And since the dawn of the flu vaccine we have never had enough, yet suddenly have more than we need to vaccinate everyone on the planet? It's creepy. Something is up with that, and I've been saying it for a long time now...it could very well be something like that. Inject some type of catalyst that can be "activated" later, for whatever purpose they need. Whoever "they" are.

s&f thanks for sharing.

Valid concern for sure. What if Holmes was really a test gone wrong...(apparently during a trial outburst by a women there's more that doesn't add up- see here). Is this for some kind of future super solider plan?

a reply to: queenofswords

I'm no biologist, chemist, or geneticist...but if you give scientists enough money and all the research and lab equipment they need...

I have a feeling this is the tip of a much larger iceberg. We humans are basically walking chemical reactions. Everything is regulated by a chemical process in our bodies.

And as I said, how would we ever know one of these viruses has infected us, giving us these new brain receptors? Put it into kids vaccines, and then the flu vaccine for adults. Pretty soon the entire 1st world population has it.

You could probably trigger black outs, memory lapses (or keep memory from being formed). It might make a good tool for abducting people. Perhaps this is how alien abductions work, they can literally switch "off" your ability to remember something, while paralyzing you at the same time. There could be receptors for body control in the brain.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Or you drop this on an incoming army.

They forget why they are there and you just take their weapons.

Weaponization would of been the first application.

Targeting hunger-promoting neurons, the scientists made mice ignore food bowls or dive into them. Targeting movement neurons, they made mice scamper or stop.

Someone is going to make a fortune in the diet industry.

Take this pill and it removes hunger.

No more over eaters.

$$$$

a reply to: MystikMushroom

I have a feeling this is the tip of a much larger iceberg. We humans are basically walking chemical reactions. Everything is regulated by a chemical process in our bodies.

And as I said, how would we ever know one of these viruses has infected us, giving us these new brain receptors? Put it into kids vaccines, and then the flu vaccine for adults. Pretty soon the entire 1st world population has it.

You could probably trigger black outs, memory lapses (or keep memory from being formed). It might make a good tool for abducting people. Perhaps this is how alien abductions work, they can literally switch "off" your ability to remember something, while paralyzing you at the same time. There could be receptors for body control in the brain.

Yes, yes and YES! And if anyone actually remembered anything, all they'd have to do is convince them it was all just a bad dream...or just wipe their memories. They could activate something to make people docile, like livestock, easy to manipulate...we'd be like living, breathing robots. The scariest thing about it is that it's not science-fiction, as so many people like to scoff about. The technology is there, has been there, for a very long time.

You know how people always say in the martial law discussions that US soldiers would never fire on unarmed civilians? They will if they've got some kind of controlling mechanism to make them do whatever they're told...they can target tumors by injecting them with nanites, and they've been doing that for at least 20 years, maybe even longer. They can damn sure make microchip type mechanisms that would do the same thing, target receptors in the brain and things would get very scary, very quickly.

ETA: When my husband was in the Army, they gave him (and everyone in his platoon) five injections, yet only documented four of them. When he questioned it later (he's a nurse, he knows the difference), he was told to drop the subject and not take it any further. He did not reenlist, and that was one reason why...they literally told him to drop it and never talk about it again.

a reply to: tigertatzen

Well there's a drug in S. America that makes people do whatever they're told. VICE did a documentary on it - I can't remember what it's called but people have been robbed blind and don't remember a thing afterward.

"Take us upstairs and let us have all your belongings and furniture"... "OK, sure.."

A guy says he woke up naked the next day and his neighbors said he came home with some strangers and began helping them move all his stuff out. They thought he was moving, but apparently not. He was drugged.

If a drug can do that -- this technology could as well. Remember, a drug simply "locks" into brain tissue receptors to illicit a feeling or behavior. If we construct artificial receptors that stimulate certain parts of the brain, we could make people hallucinate, hear things, black out, become suggestive...

And if we're already making rats hungry or not hungry -- imagine what they might have already done in top secret, black budget labs.

We could all have hidden landmine-receptors in our brains already and not even know it.

This is kinda scary guys, my question to all you nerds out there: HOW DO WE STOP IT?????

For all we know we could all already be infected with said virus... So how do we counter the effects?

Sorry I didn't read the last sentence in your post a reply to: MystikMushroom

a reply to: MystikMushroom

Well there's a drug in S. America that makes people do whatever they're told. VICE did a documentary on it - I can't remember what it's called but people have been robbed blind and don't remember a thing afterward.

"Take us upstairs and let us have all your belongings and furniture"... "OK, sure.."

A guy says he woke up naked the next day and his neighbors said he came home with some strangers and began helping them move all his stuff out. They thought he was moving, but apparently not. He was drugged.

If a drug can do that -- this technology could as well. Remember, a drug simply "locks" into brain tissue receptors to illicit a feeling or behavior. If we construct artificial receptors that stimulate certain parts of the brain, we could make people hallucinate, hear things, black out, become suggestive...

And if we're already making rats hungry or not hungry -- imagine what they might have already done in top secret, black budget labs.

We could all have hidden landmine-receptors in our brains already and not even know it.

That is a serious concern actually that I've had for a while now. Especially for people who have received the flu vaccine, and for the kids who must be vaccinated to attend school. I am not "anti-vaccine" by any stretch of the imagination, but the huge push for the vaccines and the vilification in the media of people who do not want their families vaccinated is disproportionate, especially in the past couple of years. If someone becomes adamant about trying to talk me into something I disagree with, it immediately raises suspicion for me, and that is exactly what these pushers (because that is precisely what they are) are doing.

Last year at a town festival (another red flag...flu vaccines at a downtown Halloween festival, really??) I overheard a Hispanic lady tell one of them that she could not take the flu vaccine, as per physician's orders, because she is allergic to egg yolks. She spoke in very broken English and was having trouble finding the words for what she was trying to say. Next thing I know, another woman comes over there (ostensibly to translate) and starts telling her, en Espanol, that the eggs they use in the vaccine are "safe" and will not cause a reaction.

As soon as I heard that, I walked over there and intervened, punked her ass in front of everyone, in English, so everyone watching could understand me...and I was not quiet about it either. That is very out-of-character for me, but it was so alarming that I didn't care at that point. I guess she thought if she lied in Spanish, no one would understand what she was telling the lady. She was willing to endanger another human being's life to trick her into taking the vaccine...if it's "only" flu vaccine, why the deception? Why the pushiness and open hostility toward people who refuse it? Something is up with that, no doubt about it. And you are right...we could all already be "infected" and not even know it. I have thought about this a lot.

I have also thought about how else they could introduce such a thing into the bloodstreams of people who, like myself, cannot get vaccines due to health issues. But if we already have the receptors in there, from childhood vaccines, maybe the "flu shot" (and/or others) contains a catalyst and that is why they are so frantic to inoculate everyone as quickly as possible. And maybe all these people out there don't see (or even suspect) what is going on because they've already been "activated". Maybe it's not rose-colored glasses that cause people to refuse to wake up and see what is happening; perhaps their cognizant minds are being tampered with, completely unbeknownst to them, and the information is being erased...or replaced. Literally brainwashed. I'd love to hear your thoughts on that.