Molecular photovoltaics and the optical activation of neural cells

This presentation will review recent progress on the optical control of cellular activity using nanoscale photovoltaic structures. We report the preparation and analysis of complex hybrid structures that are comprised of photosynthetic protein assemblies derived from green plants and inserted into mammalian cell membranes. We also report the spatial distribution of the electric potential from Photosystem I reaction centers in lipid vesicles.