Using computer-engineered DNA to study cell identities

All the cells in our body have the same genetic code, and yet they can differ in their identities, functions and disease states. Telling one cell apart from another in a simple manner, in real time, would prove invaluable ...

Physicists use hair fluorescence to repurpose human hair waste

Physicists from the National University of Singapore (NUS) have developed an innovative method of converting human hair waste into a functional material that can be used to encrypt sensitive information or detect environmental ...

Klara, a transparent fish for research on aging

The body pigmentation of an organism is caused by coloring substances and structures that are found in the cells of skin, hair, feathers, or scales, for example. This pigmentation considerably limits investigations of important ...

Low-cost smartphone fluorescence microscope developed

A device that can convert a smartphone or tablet into a fluorescence microscope for less than US $50 is presented in a proof-of-principle study in Scientific Reports. The authors suggest that the device—which they have ...

Self-assembling proteins can store cellular 'memories'

As cells perform their everyday functions, they turn on a variety of genes and cellular pathways. MIT engineers have now coaxed cells to inscribe the history of these events in a long protein chain that can be imaged using ...

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