Intra Membrane Molecular Phototransducers

Life-machine interfacing has broad applications in regenerative and therapeutic medicine, robotics and life enhancing technology. There are several approaches to obtain a functional abiotic/biotic interface that allows control by external stimuli. In this communication I will show that intra membrane molecular transducers have a potential in cell opto-stimulation, alternative to both the genetic strategy and the covalent engineering. I will show a class of molecular phototransducers and their specific working mechanism. In general, amphiphilic molecules bear natural affinity for the plasma membrane and successfully partition into it. The phototransducers absorb light and transform it into an electrical signal. Shining light onto those cells that incorporate the phototransducers results in their stimulation. By chemical engineering we obtained different phototransducers that act differently on the cell membrane, essentially modulating the membrane electrical properties: capacitance, conductance, surface charge. Results obtained in different cell types will be shown, together with a simple modeling of the mechanism. These results represent a new rationale for designing photo-responsive systems that operate via simple non-covalent affinity to biotargets and can be of importance for future life-machine integration.