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Research and Innovation

Cellular lasers

Pictures
Scientists can uniquely tag thousands of cells with solid polystyrene beads that are dyed with a green fluorescent compound. They shine light on the cell to excite this fluorescent dye, which causes the beads to generate a laser beam. Image courtesy of Matjaž Humar and Seok-Hyun Yun
Researchers vary the size of the bead in each cell so every laser is unique and therefore easy to track. This can help scientists follow individual cells and reveal, for example, how cancer cells migrate through the body. Image courtesy of Matjaž Humar and Seok-Hyun Yun
Oil droplets, in this case dyed red, can also be injected into cells to generate lasers when light is shined on them. Each laser is unique due to variations in the amounts of oil and the way the droplets form within the cell. Image courtesy of Matjaž Humar and Seok-Hyun Yun
A third way to generate a laser in living cells is to inject dye into the large oil blobs that are naturally found in fat cells, before activating them with light. Image courtesy of Matjaž Humar and Seok-Hyun Yun
In this case, researchers have been able to activate the ‘natural’ lasers from fat cells in pigs by inserting optical fibres just below the skin to excite the dye. Image courtesy of Matjaž Humar and Seok-Hyun Yun