Researchers in Bristol, England have discovered a way to artificially mimic light sensitive molecules that could potentially enable technologies to build a light sensitive set of artificial cells. They created an “artificial mimic of rhodopsin, a protein that lives in cell membranes in the retina.” With the new technology they discovered that the absorption of light by the protein was the first step in understanding the biochemistry of vision.
Molecular design features, removed from antibiotic molecules that bind to membranes in the eye allowed researchers to design and build a molecule that can find its way into the membrane and switch between various shapes in response to unique light wavelengths.
Through their research they discovered that unlike most naturally occurring molecules, the artificial structures they created bear similar properties in a solution and in membranes which make it easier and more reliable to predict the molecules’ behavior.
The benefit of this discovery is that the artificial mimic of rhodopsin has been created and it could enable scientists to use light-sensitive artificial cells and bypass typical communication mechanisms used by human cells.
Universe Kogaku designs and manufactures optical lenses for industrial, medical, high tech and electronic applications. Standard and custom lens assemblies for scanners, CCTV, CCD/CMOS, medical imaging, surveillance systems, machine vision and night vision systems are also available.