Ultraviolet protection using intensity-dependent spectral shift in bacteriorhodopsin

Author

Huang, Yuhua ; Fu, Jie ; Hagan, David J. ; Wu, Shin-Tson ; Huang, Xiaohua ; El-Sayed, Mostafa A.

Author_Institution

Coll. of Opt. & Photonics, Univ. of Central Florida, Orlando, FL, USA

Volume

11

Issue

4

fYear

2005

Firstpage

902

Lastpage

905

Abstract

The optical absorption properties of biological protein bacteriorhodopsin (bR) under the illumination of different intensity and pH environment were investigated. It is observed that the wild type bR film offers more than 30% effective UV protection. The UV protection effect can be further enhanced to 90% in some specific UV region by genetically or chemically modifying bR molecules or by the illumination of visible wavelengths ranging from green to red wavelengths. Preliminary results indicate that bR could be a promising material for UV protection.

Keywords

bio-optics; biological effects of ultraviolet radiation; biomolecular effects of radiation; proteins; spectral line shift; bacteriorhodopsin; optical absorption properties; protein; spectral shift; ultraviolet protection; Biomedical optical imaging; Clothing; Electromagnetic wave absorption; Lighting; Optical bistability; Optical films; Optical materials; Protection; Skin; Sun; Bacteriorhodopsin (bR); optical absorption; ultraviolet exposure; ultraviolet protection;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Selected Topics in Quantum Electronics, IEEE Journal of

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

1077-260X

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/JSTQE.2005.857696

Filename

1545992