• « back
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• next »

Peering into Cellular Worlds

By Emily Singer

Fluorescent labels are typically attached to proteins with bulky antibodies that may inhibit the proteins’ normal behavior and can form unstable bonds. But a new method for attaching labels, developed by Alice Ting, assistant professor of chemistry at MIT, uses smaller linkers that attach the label more tightly. Ting and her colleagues first genetically modify the protein of interest with a special tag. Then they prepare fluorescent labels with another tag and add an enzyme that binds the tags together. The resulting linker is extremely stable and allows researchers to track the movement of individual proteins within a cell over long periods of time.

The image on this page shows cells genetically engineered to express a protein that causes them to glow blue. The blue protein has been tagged along the perimeter of each cell with a red fluorescent label.