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posted by CoolHand on Monday July 27 2015, @01:37PM   Printer-friendly
from the frickin-laser-beams dept.

From CNET:

There aren't many universal truths out there in the world, but there is one that stands tall and strong: lasers make everything cooler.

..

Researchers claim that they can attach microlasers to a number of different cells with an optical micro-resonator that the patient swallows. This micro-resonator gives the cells the ability to naturally produce a green laser light using "nanojoule light pulses" that generate within the cell, according to the study.

Researchers who conducted the study tested their procedure on a group of white blood cells taken from a human and were able to keep track of them for almost an entire day, according to the statement.

Attaching lasers to cells to track their movement isn't a new concept. However, this smaller version of the optical resonator eliminates the need to physically insert the cell into the optical resonator to produce the trackable lasers, according to the university.

"This miniaturization paves the way to applying cell lasers as a new tool in biophotonics. In the future, these new lasers can help us understand important processes in biomedicine," says Malte Gather, a professor at the University of St. Andrews' School of Physics and Astronomy who co-authored in the study. "For instance, we may be able to track one by one a large number of cancer cells as they invade tissue or follow each immune cell migrating to a site of inflammation."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2015, @02:18PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday July 27 2015, @02:18PM (#214314)

    How do you target particular cells to laser up? You swallow that thing and it might tack on to any damn cell it encounter and likes.