ORGN 94 |
| Many proteins function like molecular machines that undergo mechanical movements in response to certain input signals. A major benefit for biology and technology could be achieved if these nanoscopic protein machines could be reengineered to possess artificial control elements. We have introduced a modified voltage-gated potassium channel that can be conditionally activated with an azobenzene photoswitch. This device, termed SPARK (for synthetic photoisomerizable azobenzene regulated K-channel), can be incorporated in biological membranes and used to control the firing pattern of neurons. More recently, we have succeeded in manipulating a second channel of central importance in neurobiology. Using structure-based design, we have created an ionotropic glutamate receptor (iGluR) that can be turned on and off by irradiation with different wavelengths of light. Our new device, termed LiGluR, thus functions as a light- and ligand-gated ion channel and can be used to influence the behavior of animals with light.
|
|
Materials, Devices, and Switches
1:00 PM-5:00 PM, Sunday, 10 September 2006 Moscone Center -- Room 132, Oral
Division of Organic Chemistry |
