Biophysicists reveal how optogenetic tool works

An international research team has for the first time obtained the structure of the light-sensitive sodium-pumping KR2 protein in its active state. The discovery provides a description of the mechanism behind the light-driven ...

Manufacture of light-activated proteins

A new strategy for designing light-sensitive proteins has been developed by researchers at Ruhr-Universität Bochum (RUB). Such proteins, also known as optogenetic tools, can be switched on and off through light impulses, ...

Expanding the optogenetics toolkit

Controlling individual brain cells using light-sensitive proteins has proven to be a powerful tool for probing the brain's complexities. As this branch of neuroscience has expanded, so has the demand for a diverse palette ...

Innovative microscope poised to propel optogenetics studies

A newly developed microscope is providing scientists with a greatly enhanced tool to study how neurological disorders such as epilepsy and Alzheimer's disease affect neuron communication. The microscope is optimized to perform ...

Mutant protein sheds lights on viral propagation

Some genetic mutations can cause a virus to flourish. Others make the virus wither away, unable to function normally and reproduce. Yet other genetic mutations only show their hand under certain conditions.

Mutant plants reveal temperature sensor

As we push the limits of agriculture to feed more people in a warmer world, we do not understand how plants sense temperature.

The (fish) eyes have it

Understanding how fish "see" is helping a team of international scientists increase their knowledge of the Great Barrier Reef's biodiversity.

Sodium pump could act as molecular light switch

Scientists from Jülich, Grenoble, Frankfurt and Moscow uncovered the atomic structure of KR2, a light-driven transporter for sodium ions which had only recently been discovered. Based on the structural information the team ...

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