Posts Tagged ‘biophotonics’

Viruses Probed for Quantum Behavior (photonics.com | Mar 2010 | Research).

BERKELEY, Calif., Sept. 17, 2009 – With a flash of light, scientists have zeroed in on the type of neural cell that controls swimming in larval zebra fish.

Using innovative light-activated proteins and gene expression techniques, the scientists from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the University of California, Berkeley, zapped several zebra fish with a pulse of light and initiated a swimming action in a subset of fish that was traced back to the neuron that drives the side-to-side motion of their tail fins.

Light Reveals Neuron Function (photonics.com | Sep 2009 | News and Features).

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct. 8, 2009 – Electron microscopes are the most powerful type of microscope, capable of distinguishing even individual atoms. However, these microscopes cannot be used to image living cells because the electrons destroy the samples.

viaSeeing Inside a Living Cell (photonics.com | Oct 2009 | News and Features).

Cells Respond to Laser Light (photonics.com | Sep 2009 | News and Features).

A hybrid protein has been created that causes mouse cells to move in response to laser light. Such cells can be trained to follow a light beam or stop on command.