Lasers, custom microscope show gene splicing process in real time
Thursday, March 10, 2011 - 04:01
in Physics & Chemistry
From neurosurgery to bar code readers, lasers have been used in a myriad of applications since they were first introduced in the late 1950's. Now, with the work being done in Jeff Gelles' Lab at Brandeis University, researchers have developed a way to use lasers to study the splicing of pre-messenger RNA molecules, an essential process in creating proteins to sustain advanced organisms, including human life. This process of splicing is carried out by a cellular micro-machine called the spliceosome.