Researchers
at the Institute for Basic Science (IBS) in South Korea have
succeeded in developing the world’s first technology to control
specific protein functions in living cells by using lights, which may
be useful in future cancer cell research.
IBS
has announced that the Bio-imaging Research Group, led by Won Do Heo,
both a group leader from the Center for Cognition and Sociality, and
a professor at the College of Life Science and Bioengineering at the
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), has
developed the Light-Activated Reversible Inhibition by Assembled Trap
(LARIAT).
With
the LARIAT, when cells are exposed to visible blue light from LED
lamps, protein clusters are formed within the cells. This allows the
target proteins trapped inside to inactivate protein functions. The
research group has found that this technology allows scientists to
inactivate critical biological phenomena, including cell migration
and cell division, by using only lights, and without the assistance
of chemical drug treatments or genetic modification. The whole
process can be managed by simply changing the lighting that the cell
is exposed to. Researchers
are hoping that this technology, which could make it possible to
cease cell division, can be applied in future cancer cell and signal
transduction research. “We
are already conducting research on the spread of cancer, as well as
brain science in animal models with the LARIAT,” professor Heo
says. “I believe this technology will be a breakthrough in
investigating cancer treatments and the function of neurons in a
complex neural network, which existing technologies have not been
able to do.” The
research results will be published in the June issue of Nature’s
sister journal,
Nature Methods,
a prestigious journal in the category of biochemical research
methods.
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Title of paper: “Reversible Protein Inactivation by OptogeneticTrapping in Cells”
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