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Article: Cellular pebble-dash.(Probes Encapsulated by BioListic Embedding technology monitors molecular changed caused by cellular reactions)(Brief Article)
- Article from:
- The Economist (US)
- Article date:
- April 11, 1998
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 Economist Newspaper Ltd. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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LIVING cells are the most complex and sophisticated chemical plants known to man. They are also the smallest, so it is very difficult to watch what is happening inside one. This is a nuisance. Knowing a cell's millisecond-by-millisecond response to such stimuli as hormones and drugs-and also precisely where within the cell that response was taking place-would be a boon to doctors and drug companies alike.
Raoul Kopelman, a chemist at the University of Michigan, and Heather Clark, one of his graduate students, reckon they have developed a way to find these things out. The new technology is known as Pebbles (Probes Encapsulated By BioListic Embedding). It works by ...