Conserved prolines in the transmembrane helices of G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are often considered to function as hinges that divide the helix into two segments capable of independent motion.

Scientists have identified two non-retinoid compounds that may be able to treat retinitis pigmentosa (RP), a group of inherited eye diseases that cause blindness. The compounds were discovered by ...

A team of biophysicists from Russia, Germany, and France, featuring researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, has discovered and studied the structure of the KR2 rhodopsin under ...

This image shows the structure of rhodopsin embedded in a membrane. The red structure in the middle is the retinal chromophore responsible for absorbing visible light. (Image credit: Kiser et al., ...

Researchers from the Moscow Institute of Physics and Technology, working with Spanish, French, and German colleagues, have determined and analyzed the high-resolution structure of a protein from the ...

Structure-function studies of visual pigments and other cell surface receptors Our laboratory is interested in the structure and function of G protein-coupled receptors with particular focus on the ...

A new, ultrafast raman spectroscopy method has given researchers a glimpse of the early stages of the vision process. Vision is jump-started by the isomerization of the retinal chromophore in ...

This image depicts the crystal structure of two nanobodies binding to a rhodopsin dimer. The rhodopsin molecules are shown in green and blue, with 11-cis-retinal displayed in red. The figure ...

Seeing starts in the rods and cones, two different types of sensory cells in the retina of the eye. The rods are responsible for dark vision and are particularly sensitive to light as a result. A ...

With optogenetics, researchers can use light to control the activity of neurons with greater accuracy than ever before. The key to this technique is specific microbial rhodopsin-like proteins. When ...