Dr. Corson will give some background on the history of this molecule.  He
will present the structural and molecular biology of visual pigments and
their role in single photon response signaling in rods and in maintaining
the remarkable quiescence of the remaining 108 visual pigment molecules in
a typical photoreceptor.  He plans to talk about his work with analogues of
vitamin A in suppressing the activity of visual pigments in the dark and in
controlling the shape of the response to single photons.   Finally, he will
talk about visual pigments as members of the larger class of G-protein
coupled receptors (GPCR's) which account for up to 5% of the human genome
and control important receptor-mediated signaling mechanisms found
through-out the body.
 
 
 

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