An image of biomolecules, such as nucleic acids, lipids and proteins, in live cells using an imaging technique called infrared (IR) transmission microscopy.
Credit: Y. Lee/NIST
To accelerate biotechnology innovations, such as the development of lifesaving drug therapies, scientists strive to develop faster, more quantitative and more widely available ways to observe biomolecules in living cells.
Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a new method that allows the use of infrared (IR) light to capture clear images of biomolecules inside cells, something that was previously not possible due to the tendency of the water in cells to absorb infrared radiation. The new method removes the obscuring effects of water in IR-based measurements and allows researchers to determine the amounts of key biomolecules in cells, such as the proteins that direct cell function. The ability to measure changes in living cells could speed up advances in biomanufacturing, cell therapy development, drug development and more.
Their findings have been published in Analytical Chemistry.
Infrared radiation is light that is just beyond what is visible to the human eye. Although we cannot see IR light, we can feel it as heat. In IR microscopy, a material of interest absorbs radiation from a range of wavelengths in the IR spectrum. Scientists measure and analyze the IR absorption spectrum of a sample, producing a set of “fingerprints” to identify molecules and other chemical structures. However, water, the most abundant molecule both inside and outside cells, absorbs infrared strongly and masks the infrared absorption from other biomolecules in cells.
One way to understand this optical masking effect is to compare it to when an airplane passes overhead next to the Sun. ..
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