The 1921 discovery of insulin was a Big Bang from which a vast and expanding universe of
research into insulin action and resistance has issued. In the intervening century, some …

Sensory photoreceptors underpin light-dependent adaptations of organismal physiology,
development, and behavior in nature. Adapted for optogenetics, sensory photoreceptors …

The serine/threonine kinase AKT is a central node in cell signaling. While aberrant AKT
activation underlies the development of a variety of human diseases, how different patterns …

Insulin rapidly stimulates GLUT4 translocation and glucose transport in fat and muscle cells.
Signals from the occupied insulin receptor are translated into downstream signalling …

Methods to acutely manipulate protein interactions at the subcellular level are powerful tools
in cell biology. Several blue-light-dependent optical dimerization tools have been …

Obesity is one of the risk factors of metabolic diseases. Decreased sensitivity to insulin or
impairment of the insulin signaling pathway may affect the metabolism of adipose tissue …

Protein kinases are involved in the regulation of many cellular processes including cell
differentiation, survival, migration, axon guidance and neuronal plasticity. A growing set of …

Upconversion-mediated optogenetics is an emerging powerful technique to remotely control
and manipulate the deep-tissue protein functions and signaling pathway activation. This …

Fat and muscle cells contain a specialized, intracellular organelle known as the GLUT4
storage vesicle (GSV). Insulin stimulation mobilizes GSVs, so that these vesicles fuse at the …

Highlights•Optogenetics uses light to control genetically encoded cell components.•It is a
precise tool for systematically addressing complex biological questions.•It has a potential for …