Histology & Microscopy

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Advanced imaging techniques shed light on single cells

Every plant, animal, and person is a rich microcosm of tiny, specialized cells. These cells are worlds unto themselves, each with their own unique parts and processes that elude the naked eye.

2 Aug 2024

New nanosensing technique enhances quality control for gene therapy vectors

Over the past few decades, there has been remarkable progress in genetic manipulation technologies, bringing us closer to the point where genes can be modified in vivo.

1 Aug 2024

Powerful visualization technologies offer new insight into understanding muscle contraction in humans

The connections between the nervous system and muscles develop differently across the kingdom of life.

31 Jul 2024

New discovery unveils key process in DNA repair pathway

An elegant collaboration between researchers in the UK's two core-funded Medical Research Council Research Institutes, the Laboratory of Medical Sciences (LMS) in London and the Laboratory of Molecular Biology (LMB) in Cambridge, has solved a decades-old mystery which could pave the way to better cancer treatments in the future.

31 Jul 2024

ACE technology enhances single-cell protein detection with advanced signal amplification

Since the 1950s, researchers have used a famous method invented by Wallace Coulter known as "flow cytometry" to characterize different types of immune cells in research studies and in blood samples from human individuals.

30 Jul 2024

Cryo-electron microscopy reveals how membrane microdomains respond to mechanical stress

Cell membranes play a crucial role in maintaining the integrity and functionality of cells. However, the mechanisms by which they perform these roles are not yet fully understood.

24 Jul 2024

Multiplexed STED nanoscopy technique reduces photobleaching and phototoxicity in live-cell imaging

A new publication from Opto-Electronic Advances; DOI 10.29026/oea.2024.240035 discusses multiplexed stimulated emission depletion nanoscopy for multi-color live-cell long-term imaging.

23 Jul 2024

New microscopy technique unveils dynamic structure of amyloid-beta

Amyloid-beta (A-beta) aggregates are tangles of proteins most notably associated with neurodegenerative diseases like Alzheimer's.

19 Jul 2024

Flu viruses can use a second entry pathway to infect cells

Most influenza viruses enter human or animal cells through specific pathways on the cells' surface. Researchers at the University of Zurich have now discovered that certain human flu viruses and avian flu viruses can also use a second entry pathway, a protein complex of the immune system, to infect cells.

18 Jul 2024

Optical metabolic imaging reveals how Toxoplasma infection changes host cell metabolism

Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite responsible for toxoplasmosis, a lifelong chronic infection prevalent in about 30% of the human population.

12 Jul 2024

Study reveals how DDM1 protein suppresses 'jumping genes' in plants

International joint research led by Akihisa Osakabe and Yoshimasa Takizawa of the University of Tokyo has clarified the molecular mechanisms in thale cresses (Arabidopsis thaliana) by which the DDM1 (Decreased in DNA Methylation 1) protein prevents the transcription of "jumping genes."

11 Jul 2024

Cryo-EM reveals structural dynamics of RNAP-DNA interactions during transcription initiation

Every living cell transcribes DNA into RNA. This process begins when an enzyme called RNA polymerase (RNAP) clamps onto DNA. Within a few hundred milliseconds, the DNA double helix unwinds to form a node known as the transcription bubble, so that one exposed DNA strand can be copied into a complementary RNA strand.

10 Jul 2024

New study reveals how RNA polymerase opens the transcription bubble in real time

Every living cell transcribes DNA into RNA. This process begins when an enzyme called RNA polymerase (RNAP) clamps onto DNA.

3 Jul 2024

High-resolution real-time imaging reveals early developmental processes in quail embryos

Researchers at The University of Queensland have for the first time captured images and video in real time of early embryonic development to understand more about congenital birth defects.

1 Jul 2024

New APIC method eliminates blurriness and distortion in microscopy

For hundreds of years, the clarity and magnification of microscopes were ultimately limited by the physical properties of their optical lenses.

28 Jun 2024

Innovative SRPFM technique enables ultra-sensitive force measurement at nanoscale in fluids

Groundbreaking research has revealed a new way to measure incredibly minute forces at the nanoscale in water, pushing the boundaries of what scientists know about the microscopic world.

24 Jun 2024

Synthetic cell mimics immune response via symmetry breaking

In a feat aimed at understanding how cells move and creating new ways to shuttle drugs through the body, scientists at Johns Hopkins Medicine say they have built a minimal synthetic cell that follows an external chemical cue and demonstrates a governing principle of biology called "symmetry breaking."

12 Jun 2024