Event

Chemsoc Seminar: Dirk Trauner - How to Convert Receptors into Photoreceptors

Monday, October 30, 2017 13:00to14:30
Stewart Biology Building Rm S1/3, 1205 avenue du Docteur-Penfield, Montreal, QC, H3A 1B1, CA

Synthetic biology is often defined as the reshuffling of Nature’s circuits on a genetic level but it could also involve the development of synthetic receptors that are sensitive to unnatural stimuli. Over the last decade, our group has systematically explored the conversion of proteins that normally respond to small molecules, heat, membrane tension, or voltage, into photoreceptors. We usually do this by attaching synthetic photoswitches with modern bioconjugation techniques that work in vivo. Using opioid receptors and dopamine receptors (family A), GLP1 receptors (family B), and mGluRs (family C) as examples, I will show how just about any receptor be converted into a photoreceptor.

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