A Practical Guide and Overview
Get Answers Here:
- Why could photopharmacology be important?
- How to devise a successful project?
- Starting point for literature search!
This homepage aims to address the following groups:
General information on photopharmacology, its impact and potential
- Students
Introduce photopharmacology, familiarize with concepts, starting point for literature search
Resources to familiarize with and to join the field, overview on what has been done, starting point for your own literature search.
The principle of photopharmacology is the introduction of a photoswitchable unit into the molecular structure of the bioactive compound itself […]. Dynamic control is achieved through addressing a small, photoresponsive molecule and, in a sense, is comparable to classical pharmacotherapy, making this method potentially interesting for medical applications. Specificity to the selected target is intrinsic to this approach, as it employs a highly optimized design of a selective, bioactive compound, into which a responsive element is introduced.
J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2014, 136, 2178−2191
Aim
Photopharmacology combines the classical pharmacological approach of using small molecular drugs to affect organisms with the light-control used e.g. in optogenetics. In contrast to optogenetics, photopharmacology does not require genetic manipulation and thus is more suitable for medical use.
As with classical pharmaceutical drugs, photopharmacology provides small molecules that target a certain disease. However, photopharmacology adds an additional level of control by putting these molecules under light-control.
© 2017 Michael M. Lerch |