Analyzing individual cells allows researchers to distinguish between a uniform population of cells (above left) and a group of cells with members having, say, different protein content (above right). The ability to recognize such differences could be essential to understanding diseases such as cancer or diabetes.
Credit: Elaine Kurie

Biomedicine

TR10: Single-Cell Analysis

  • Monday, March 12, 2007
  • By Jon Cohen

Norman Dovichi believes that detecting minute differences between individual cells could improve medical tests and treatments.

   

This article is one in a series of 10 stories we're running this week covering today's most significant emerging technologies. It's part of our annual "10 Emerging Technologies" report, which appears in the March/April print issue of Technology Review.

We all know that focusing on the characteristics of a group can obscure the differences between the individuals in it. Yet when it comes to biological cells, scientists typically derive information about their behavior, status, and health from the collective activity of thousands or millions of them. A more precise understanding of differences between individual cells could lead to better treatments for cancer and diabetes, just for starters.

 

To read the entire article you must log in:

Most of our content — all daily news, blogs, and videos — is free. Magazine stories are paid. To read this story, you must have a subscription or you must use a reading credit. Registration to Technology Review is free and entitles registrants to three free reading credits.

Username or REGISTER
Password  
   
 
Advertisement

MAGAZINE

Can We Build Tomorrow's Breakthroughs?

Manufacturing in the United States is in trouble. That's bad news not just for the country's economy but for the future of innovation.

Videos

Meet 2011 TR35 Winner Jesse Robbins

More

Advertisement

Technology Review Lists

TR50

Our list of the 50 most innovative companies, including the following:

Nissan

Amyris

Synthetic Genomics

eSolar

More

Advertisement

Facebook

Advertisement