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Scientists Uncover Inner Workings of Rare Eye Cells Three years ago, Brown University researchers discovered new eye cells - indeed a parallel visual system. Now, in a report in Nature, they explain how these exotic cells harness light energy to do their chief job: setting the body`s master circadian clock.A Brown University team has found that a protein called melanopsin plays a key role in the inner workings of mysterious, spidery cells in the eye called intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells, or ipRGCs.Melanopsin, they found, absorbs light and triggers a biochemical cascade that allows the cells to signal the brain about brightness. Through these signals, ipRGCs synchronize the body`s daily rhythms to the rising and setting of the sun. This circadian rhythm controls alertness, sleep, hormone production, body temperature and organ function.
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