BEGIN:VCALENDAR
VERSION:2.0
PRODID:-//Talks.cam//talks.cam.ac.uk//
X-WR-CALNAME:Talks.cam
BEGIN:VEVENT
SUMMARY:Sir Martin Wood Prize Lecture: The emerging world of microbial rho
 dopsins in photobiology - Keiichi Inoue\, Associate Professor\, The Instit
 ute for Solid State Physics\, The University of Tokyo
DTSTART:20201126T110000Z
DTEND:20201126T120000Z
UID:TALK153079@talks.cam.ac.uk
CONTACT:Scientific Meetings Co-ordinator
DESCRIPTION:The sun is the source of most living things on earth\, and liv
 ing organisms use light energy as a source of energy to drive their physio
 logical activities and as a source of information to perceive the surround
 ing environment\, which is useful for their own survival. The two most fam
 iliar strategies for the use of light are the vision of animals\, includin
 g humans\, and the photosynthesis of plants.\n\nIn photosynthesis\, comple
 xes of chlorophyll pigments and large proteins\, called the photosystem ex
 ists in chloroplasts and other parts of plants\, absorb the energy of sunl
 ight and undergoes a highly efficient charge-separation reaction to produc
 e the chemical energy necessary for the synthesis of adenosine triphosphat
 e (ATP) and carbohydrates. On the other hand\, in animal vision\, the shap
 e and color of objects seen by the eye are recognized by rhodopsin\, a pho
 toreceptor membrane protein located in the retina\, which captures light e
 ntering through a lens in eye and transmits this information to the brain 
 through the optic nerve.\n\nIn recent years\, it was revealed that many mi
 crobes such as bacteria and unicellular eukaryotic microbes\, has their ow
 n photoreceptive proteins called microbial rhodopsin\, similar to animal r
 hodopsin. Both of these are membrane proteins consisting of seven ɑ-helic
 es\, with a retinal pigment\, a derivative of vitamin A\, bound to the pro
 tein to absorb visible light. However\, unlike animal rhodopsin\, microbia
 l rhodopsin uses the light energy to transport various ions\, such as prot
 ons\, sodium and chloride ions\, into and out of the cells\, and to contro
 l gene expression with light\, to regulate enzymatic activity in a light-d
 ependent manner\, etc.\n\nIn recent years\, these microbial rhodopsins hav
 e been used as a major molecular tool in "optogenetics\," a new methodolog
 y to manipulate the neural activity in animals by light. In this webinar\,
  I will present the photobiology of microbial rhodopsins\, the chemical an
 d molecular mechanisms\, as well as the applications in optogenetics.
LOCATION: Webinar - register at https://nanoscience.oxinst.com/campaigns/s
 ir-martin-wood-prize-lecture
END:VEVENT
END:VCALENDAR