Researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have developed a new method to study single cells while exposing them to controlled environmental changes.
The unique method, where a set of laser tweezers move the cell around in a microscopic channel system, allows the researchers to study how single cells react to stress induced by a constantly changing environment.
Studies on how cells react to changes in their environment, such as reduced availability of nutrients, have traditionally used cultures consisting of millions of cells. While such studies show how cells on average react to a new environment, they say nothing about individual variation, for example how quickly a single cell responds.
Catches and moves cells
PhD Emma Eriksson and her colleagues at the Department of Physics, University of Gothenburg, Sweden, developed a method where laser tweezers are used to catch a cell the size of about one micrometer, or 0.001 of a mm, and then move the cell between different environments. Placing the cell in a system of channels made of silicone, in which each channel is finer than a human hair, enables the researchers to add and remove substances so that the environment surrounding a single cell changes in a split second - while at the same time watching the reactions through a microscope.
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