HKUST Engineers Develop CarGAP, a Vitamin B₁₂ and Light-Controlled Molecular Valve to Precisely Regulate Cell Communication
The HKUST team, led by Prof. Fei SUN, Professor of the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering; Prof. Ting XIE, Kerry Holdings Professor of Science and Chair Professor of the Division of Life Science; and Dr. Renjun TU, former Research Assistant Professor of the Division of Life Science (now Professor of Southeast University in Nanjing), collaborated with Prof. Peng ZOU from the College of Chemistry and Molecular Engineering at Peking University, to develop a groundbreaking tool that acts like a precise "on/off" switch for the communication channels between cells.
This innovative tool, named CarGAP, uses a combination of vitamin B12 and gentle green light to control the microscopic bridges that cells use to talk to each other. By adding vitamin B, researchers can close these channels, and by shining a green light, they can reopen them on demand.
This level of control is a major breakthrough because cell-to-cell communication is essential for almost all biological processes, from our heartbeat to brain activity. When this communication goes wrong, it can lead to serious conditions like cardiovascular disease, cancer, and developmental disorders. The CarGAP tool provides a powerful and non-toxic way for scientists to study these processes in real time in living organisms, which was not possible before.
The team has already successfully demonstrated the tool in both mammalian cells and living fruit flies, opening a new window into understanding disease and paving the way for future advances in regenerative medicine.
The research findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) in a paper titled "Controllable gap junctions by vitamin B12 and light". The three co-first authors of the study are Duo CUI and Xinyu HUANG, both HKUST PhD students in Prof. Sun’s group, and Dr. Shuzhang LIU, postdoctoral fellow of Peking University.
(This news was originally published by the HKUST School of Engineering here.)
