A new approach to recording cellular activities

Potential for accelerating research: A novel chemical labeling method allows transient events in cells to be recorded for later analysis

27-Feb-2024 - In living cells, a vast number of transient events occur simultaneously, each of them important for a given cell in carrying out its function. The faithful recording of these transient activities is a prerequisite for a molecular understanding of life, yet obtaining such recordings is extremely ...

Microscopy: Overcoming the traditional resolution limit for the fast co-tracking of molecules

Researchers have developed an innovative method to simultaneously track rapid dynamic processes of multiple molecules at the molecular scale

16-Feb-2024 - Processes within our bodies are characterized by the interplay of various biomolecules such as proteins and DNA. These processes occur on a scale often within a range of just a few nanometers. Consequently, they cannot be observed with fluorescence microscopy, which has a resolution limit of ...

A molecular shield for near-infrared fluorescent dyes

Stable and Functional Dyes for Near-Infrared Fluorescence Imaging of Living Subjects

05-Jun-2020 - Scientists can monitor biomolecular processes in live tissue by noninvasive optical methods, such as fluorescence imaging. However, the fluorescent dyes used for that purpose are often rather unstable, and photobleaching, lack of specificity, and poor pharmacokinetics are recurrent issues. US ...

World's first fluorescent sensor to detect date rape drug

01-Apr-2014 - A team of researchers from the National University of Singapore (NUS) has developed the world's first fluorescent sensor to identify the presence of a drug known as GHB that is commonly used to spike beverages. When the sensor is mixed with a sample of a beverage containing GHB, the mixture ...

Fewer animal experiments thanks to nanosensors

12-Jan-2012 - Countless mice, rats and rabbits die every year in the name of science – and the situation is getting worse. While German laboratories used some 2.41 million animals for scientific research in 2005, by 2009 this number had grown to 2.79 million. One third were destined for fundamental biology ...

The 2011 Körber Prize goes to Stefan Hell

With a groundbreaking idea the physicist has overcome the diffraction resolution barrier in optical microscopy

08-Jul-2011 - Prof. Dr. Dr. h. c. Stefan Hell of the Max Planck Institute for Biophysical Chemistry in Göttingen is to receive the 2011 Körber European Science Prize endowed with 750,000 euros for his pioneering discoveries in the field of optics. Every year, the Körber Prize is awarded to an outstanding ...

Living cells made to fluoresce

13-Aug-2010 - Individual molecules and their dynamics can also be made visible in living cells using conventional fluorophores at a resolution of around 20 nanometers. How this is done is being revealed for the first time by researchers from Würzburg, Bielefeld, and New York in the journal Nature ...

Carnegie Mellon researchers turn up brightness on fluorescent probes

11-Aug-2010 - Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University's Molecular Biosensor and Imaging Center (MBIC) are turning up the brightness on a group of fluorescent probes called fluoromodules that are used to monitor biological activities of individual proteins in real-time. This latest advance enhances their ...

Carnegie Mellon researchers create fluorescent biosensor to aid in drug development

02-Aug-2010 - Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University have developed a new fluorescent biosensor that could aid in the development of an important class of drugs that target a crucial class of proteins called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs). "Drugs that target GPCRs make up approximately 30 percent of ...

Written in Red

Red-Emitting Dyes for Optical Microscopy and Nanoscopy

08-Jul-2010 - Far-field optical nanoscopy methods, especially STED (stimulated emission depletion), pose very strict and, at times, contradictory requirements on the utilized fluorescent markers. Photostable fluorescent dyes that absorb in the red optical region are indispensable as labels for various micro- ...