Researchers at Columbia University have made a significant step toward viewing small biomolecules inside living biological systems with minimum disturbance. This has been a goal of the science world for quite some time.
"When studying biological functions of a molecule in complex and mysterious cells, researchers typically label the molecules of interest with fluorophores, a kind of molecules that glow when illuminated. Using a fluorescence microscope, common in research labs, the fluorophore-tagged molecules can be located and tracked with high precision" (Columbia University 1). The invention of Green Florescent Protein has sent florescent microscopy's popularity skyrocketing. "However, when it comes to small biomolecules, fluorophore tagging is problematic, because the fluorophores are almost always larger or comparable in size to the small molecules of interest. As a result, they often disturb the normal functions of these small molecules with crucial biological roles(Columbia University 1)".
Article: http://www.biologynews.net/archives/2014/03/03/imaging_dynamics_of_small_biomolecules_inside_live_cells.html
NOS themes: Science is collaborative- Multiple Scientists at the University of Columbia have had input on this current experiment.
Science is based on evidence- The scientists in this experiment have done numerous quantitative tests on the speed of photosynthesis.
Very informative article. I thought it was really cool to see that the team that headed this experiment is interested in applying their techniques to detect tumor cells. Another NOS theme I would add is the role of motivation or curiosity, because as you mentioned, this has been a goal of science for quite some time.
ReplyDeleteThis article was enlightening. I think that it is crazy that the advances in science has brought us this far. I can see why it is so important for scientists to have the correct microscope when doing this research. Maybe, with finding out more in depth about what the cells do in photosynthesis , they can begin to try to duplicate this reactions to make our use of oxygen more efficient. My extra research also brought me to wonder if the Green Florescent Potein can be used anywhere else in the science world. http://www.rcsb.org/pdb/101/motm.do?momID=42
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