Photopharmacology 'lighting the way' for new treatments

Using light to activate or deactivate drugs, photopharmacology, is a relatively new area of medicinal chemistry, with a key advantage being the high degree of control over the time and place where targeting occurs. That's exciting scientists because of the potential for reducing the toxic side effects caused by poor selectivity of drugs. Auckland University of Technology's Dr Cassandra Fleming has just been awarded a Marsden Fast Start research grant to investigate 'light-responsive' drug delivery with a focus on an important drug target for Alzheimer's disease, an enzyme called GSK-3.