Researchers find way to test effects on cells, use microscope dubbed ‘Death Star’
Scientists developed a new method to observe the effects of drugs on cells, using a blue and a red light. Researchers also use a microscope they named the ‘Death Star,’ inspired by the Star Wars franchise.
A Oxford University team created a new technique to test the effects of new or commonly used drugs on heart function, as well as exploring new ways to treat diabetes, according to a press release.
The method requires the insertion of blue-green algae genes and tropical coral into lab-created heart or pancreatic cells. Then, the modified cells are introduced to a laser beam in the ‘Death Star‘ microscope and the process is then filmed with a camera.
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The laser beam turns the cells on and off, making them contract and relax to a fixed beat, which enables researchers to observe small changes that the drugs make in the way the cell responds.
The new technique allows scientists to use multiple cells simultaneously, as opposed to old methods that involved capturing cells on a needle and then running an electric current through them. Apart from being faster and more efficient, the new method also enables cells to be controlled and observed remotely with light, rather than with direct contact.
“This research works using a simple microscope and a virus and means we no longer need to touch the cell or the dish. This allows hundreds of cells to be studied at the same time – so we have made the process a lot more efficient, and a lot easier to do. This will help us to identify drugs to treat diabetes and prevent sudden death, as we can detect helpful changes in pancreatic cells, and harmful changes in heart cells with this approach. It is a lot quicker and easier to do, meaning that work that usually takes three months and millions of cells can be conducted in three days on a handful of cells,” lead investigator, Dr Matthew Daniels from the Radcliffe Department of Medicine at Oxford, said.
The full paper, “Non-invasive phenotyping and drug testing in single cardiomyocytes or beta-cells by calcium imaging and optogenetics”, can be read in the journal Plos One.
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