User:Brian P. Josey/Notebook/2010/08/05

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Detecting Proteins in Cells Papers On Monday's talk page, Koch pointed out a lab at McGill University lead by Paul Wiseman that are looking into ways to detect complex structures in a living cell using different microscopy techniques. From the lab's publications page, I downloaded two papers that appeared to be the most useful for me. The first is the longer, Detecting Protein Complexes in Living Cells from Laser Scanning Confocal Image Sequences by the Cross Correlation Raster Image Spectroscopy Method and a short one titled Patterning protein concentrations using laser-assisted adsorption by photobleaching, LAPAP. Here are my notes on the two papers: Detecting Protein Complexes In this paper, the authors aspire to use single molecular fluorescence, to find a way to successfully image and measure the position of various proteins in a cell using confocal microscopes. The technique that they use is composed of two feeds of information that are cross correlated and shifted a little to create the best images possible. They are able to use this data to measure different quantities, like the number of particles, their reaction rates and others, but this detracts from the spacial resolution a bit. Ultimately, the paper concludes that the technique can be used to find the existence, composition, and dynamics of molecular complexes, but fails to detect molecular aggregation and whether a particular interaction occurs in the cell. Patterning Protein Concentration Here, the authors want to establish patterns of proteins using simple processes. One important issue that they would like to overcome is the length of time the assays last, and would like to create longer lasting ones. To do this, they propose using a laser to etch the glass, and then add the proteins. To demonstrate their skills, they reproduced Vermeer's Girl with a Pearl Earring, a remarkable feat in itself. Ultimately, their fabricated cells could still be visualized after three months of storage at 4°C. While these two articles were interesting, there were the ones that appeared to have the closest relation to what I was doing, but weren't completely relevant. Although, they might publish something else that could help me along.