Using
laser tweezers, a team of Harvard University scientist nudges one sodium and one cesium together to form a molecule.
The scientists then captured the atoms by using
the laser tweezers and merged them through a process they called «optical dipole trap.»
The meter - long distances that the research team was able to move the particles could open up new avenues for
laser tweezers in the transport of dangerous substances and microbes, and for sample taking and biomedical research.
«Using
laser tweezers to study red blood cell invasion gives us an unprecedented level of control over the whole process and will help us to understand this critical process at a level of detail that has not been possible before,» says senior study author Julian Rayner of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute.
Hirano hopes
these laser tweezers will allow much finer control and analysis of gene - therapy tests.
By simply moving the spheres around using
laser tweezers the researchers were able to build a variety of structures.
They immobilized the bacterium with
laser tweezers in close proximity to a neutrophil held by a tiny glass pipette.
Not exact matches
The researchers moved these
tweezers closer together until the
laser beams overlapped, allowing the sodium and cesium atoms to collide.
Such manipulations are routinely done with real atoms trapped in spots of
laser light and tugged about with «optical
tweezers.»
By looking at their images, the researchers were able to discern which
laser beams, or
tweezers, were holding atoms and which were not.
To manipulate the foreign DNA, the scientists used optical
tweezers, which essentially tweaks a
laser beam whose electromagnetic field can grab hold of and transport a plasmid - coated particle.
The method combines two high - tech laboratory techniques and allows the researchers to precisely poke holes on the surface of a single cell with a high - powered «femtosecond»
laser and then gently tug a piece of DNA through it using «optical
tweezers,» which draw on the electromagnetic field of another
laser.
While another
laser beam detected the exact location of the cell membrane, they pushed the particle through the pore with the
tweezers.
They then dragged each bead across a cell using optical
tweezers, a technique that employs a highly focused
laser beam to physically move microscopic objects.
Also vital to the work is optical (
laser)
tweezers, which manipulate objects at the molecular level.
The ability to trap live organisms without harm is surprising, considering that the typical
laser intensity at the focal point of the optical
tweezers is about 10 million watts per square centimeter.
In addition, we have devised an «optical
tweezers» that uses
laser beams to hold and move organelles inside of cells without puncturing the intervening membranes.
«
Laser optical
tweezers reveal how malaria parasites infect red blood cells.»
At the same time, cultivating an ethos of invention and discovery enables us to translate research into possibilities for tomorrow, from new tools for scientific inquiry like optical
tweezers and
lasers to new ways of producing sustainable, eco-friendly energy.
For work on optical
tweezers for biological applications which use focused
laser light to trap and manipulate virus particles, living cells and other biological entities whilst allowing them to maintain viability.
Under - filling trapping objectives optimizes the use of the available
laser power in optical
tweezers.
He still likes to tinker; only now he uses magnetic beads, atomic - force microscopes, and
laser «
tweezers» to explore the inner workings of the cell and the physical forces behind DNA replication.
Optical
tweezers harness the tiny forces exerted by incident light to trap and manipulate nanoparticles, but the inevitable
laser heating leads to radiation forces that reduce the trap stability.
By combining the use of magnetic
tweezers with in vivo
laser ablation, we locally control physiologically relevant deformations in wild - type Drosophila embryonic tissues.