Light Signal Triggers Protein Interactions Inside Cells

LONDON – The prospect of being able to control the activity of drugs in body tissues by illuminating them has moved a step closer, with the discovery of a way of using light to activate peptides inside a cell. By experimenting with the process of endocytosis, through which cells engulf substances that are outside and bring them inside, a team of researchers in Spain have shown they could switch peptides from active to inactive with pulses of light.