Giving proteins a new glow
Since the 1990s, a green fluorescent protein known simply as GFP has revolutionized cell biology. Originally found in a Pacific Northwest jellyfish, GFP allows scientists to visualize proteins inside of cells and track them as they go about their business. Two years ago, biologists who discovered and developed the protein as a laboratory tool won a Nobel Prize for their work.However, using GFP as a fluorescent probe has one major drawback — the protein is so bulky that it can interfere with the proteins it’s labeling, preventing them from doing their normal tasks or reaching their intended destinations. “For a long time, people have been trying to find better ways to label proteins,” says Katharine White, an MIT graduate student in the lab of Alice Ting, associate professor of chemistry. Ting, White and their colleagues have now come up with a new way to overcome the disadvantages of GFP, by...