Photonic regulation of Protein Function in Living Systems
Photo-on-consortium

Courtney Michael, UEF, Coffey Eleanor, ÅA

Photonic methods have revolutionized modern biology, with a plethora of fluorescent and luminescent reporters in use in almost every modern biology laboratory. To evaluate biological hypotheses, we must not only record from but also actively manipulate biological systems. However, there is a surprising gap in biologists' abilities to manipulate living systems with light, in spite of the widespread availability of instrumentation to precisely and accurately manipulate light input into biological systems. In this project we plan to generate a prototypic light-regulatable scaffold on which to superimpose enzyme activity, according to the needs of the biological experiment. The aim is to develop light-evoked changes in protein interactions, and we aim to generate a regulatable enzyme (the MAP kinase JNK) as proof of principle of the scaffold. This is a central player in cell functions such as involving development, cell movement and cell death, and as a consequence plays a central role in cancer and neurodegeneration. As biological tools, the photo-regulatability of such enzymes provides exquisite spatio-temporal control of their function. For the first time, it will be possible to selectively activate these molecules by directing light to distinct subcellular loci or compartments. Light activation would thus provide an innovative solution which will expand the way in which we study cell function.