A team led by biologists at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences, in collaboration with the Keck School of Medicine of USC, has captured those receptors mid-action, creating the molecular equivalent of a slow-motion movie.

Their discovery, published in Nature, could help scientists design painkillers that aren’t as addictive and develop longer-acting overdose antidotes like naloxone, better known by its brand name Narcan.

“It’s a little like watching an engine run in super slow motion,” said study corresponding author Cornelius Gati, assistant professor of biological sciences, chemistry, and quantitative and computational biology at USC Dornsife.