The Latest Biology News And Medical NewsBiology News 2Health News 2Biology News 3Health News 3
HOME >> BIOLOGY >> NEWS
Probing biology's dark matter

ndividual members of a microbial ecosystem, leaving most species almost entirely enigmatic.

Those unstudied organisms are biologys dark matter, Quake says. Like the dark matter that astronomers can only infer must exist in the universe, these organisms have never been studied directly. Quake and his colleagues hope their new technology will change that.

We are hoping to open a whole new chapter in how one understands the microbial universe, Quake said. Microfluidic tools can give us direct access to this dark matter, Quake says.

Quakes research lies at the nexus of physics, biology, and biotechnology. His microfluidics chips, which he designs to tackle problems in fields including structural genomics, systems biology, microbial ecology, and synthetic chemistry, are akin to having a fully automated laboratory on a postage stamp-sized wafer. Remember the early days of electronics with all of those big vacuum tubes and wires" Next came the transistor and finally the silicon chip, which dramatically revolutionized computers and modern electronics. Microfluidics is following the track of silicon chips and promises to revolutionize biology in the same manner.

The microfluidic chip designed by Quake and his colleagues for the current study is equipped with tiny chambers and valves that allow researchers to isolate microbes at the nanoliter scale. Because each microbe is isolated in a vanishingly small volume of liquid, the concentration of its genetic material within that solution is actually quite high meaning Quake and his colleagues can easily amplify and analyze the genome of an individual cell, eliminating the need to persuade the organism to multiply in a laboratory culture. The chip offers the potential to discover untold new species of microbes lurking within deep sea vents, ordinary dirt, toxic sludge, or virtually any environment.

To demonstrate the power of the new device, the scientists first used it to target a possible
'"/>

Contact: Jennifer Michalowski
michalow@hhmi.org
301-215-8576
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
19-Jul-2007


Page: 1 2 3

Related biology news :

1. Probing the promise and perils of nanoparticles
2. Rutgers anthropologist to receive Crafoord Prize, biologys equivalent of Nobel Prize
3. Scientists map one of biologys critical light-sensing structures
4. Fine particulate matter from traffic may influence birth weight
5. Exploring the dark matter of the genome
6. Coarse particulate matter in air may harm hearts of asthma sufferers, UNC study finds
7. A matter of force
8. Monitoring poisons in the environment -- a woolly matter
9. Size matters if youre a rodent
10. Which genome variants matter?
11. Mind over matter: SH2B1 in the brain regulates obesity
Post Your Comments:
*Name:
*Comment:
*Email:
TAG: Probing biology dark matter

(Date:7/2/2009)...brates its birth on the 4th of July, University of...bbean coral reef nursery scientists will be celebr...ic Administration (NOAA) today announced that The ...elkhorn coral recovery project, including Lirman,s...upport from the American Recovery and Reinvestment...
(Date:7/1/2009)...and Rift Valley Fever are being targeted as part o...hip involving African researchers and the London I...rn African Centre for Infectious Disease Surveilla...ions from five African countries and the UK to imp...t, identify and monitor infectious diseases affect...
(Date:7/1/2009)...associated with the formation of metastases in col...k Center for Molecular Medicine (MDC) Berlin-Buch ...ave identified 115 genes that are disregulated bot...he future, their findings may help identify patien...stroenterology 2009, doi:10.1053/j.gastro.2009.03...
(Date:7/1/2009)... the centromere, a key cellular structure in power...urate cell division, has just earned him a paper i...tallation grant, of 50,000 euro per year, for a ma...lifornia to the Instituto Gulbenkian de Cincia (IG...Mechanisms group. The Nature Cell Biology paper,...
Breaking Biology News(10 mins):Nursery programs for corals receive TLC from NOAA this Independence Day 2Research network wins approximately £5.7 million to target human and animal diseases in Africa 2Research network wins approximately £5.7 million to target human and animal diseases in Africa 3Colorectal cancer 2Double success for Instituto Gulbenkian de Ciencia scientists working on chromosome segregation 2Paul Chew Appointed to sanofi aventis U S Chief Science Officer Chief Medical Officer 39646 1Paul Chew Appointed to sanofi aventis U S Chief Science Officer Chief Medical Officer 39646 2Fewer Teens Sniffing Glue Household Products 39643 1Fewer Teens Sniffing Glue Household Products 39643 2Fewer Teens Sniffing Glue Household Products 39643 3Flies may spread drug resistant bacteria from poultry operations 7524 1Flies may spread drug resistant bacteria from poultry operations 7524 2Media Advisory 3A Medco CEO David B Snow Jr To Address American Enterprise Institute 3A Health IT 3A Empowering Precision Medicine 39640 1Media Advisory 3A Medco CEO David B Snow Jr To Address American Enterprise Institute 3A Health IT 3A Empowering Precision Medicine 39640 2
Other News:
...tudents receive little or no exposure to the theor...rstanding biology, says a new guidebook from the N...eluctant to teach evolution because of pressures f...te it as part of the science curriculum. Moreover...
...u'll see tracts of white matter glistening.against...nerve cells, which help.us fill out tax forms, fal...matter, on the other hand, contains the long arms ...es across the brain and down the spinal cord, inst...
...hemical derivative of vegetables has been used by ...o block the uncontrolled cell division that leads ...a product of vitamin A, which the body manufacture...sortment of yellow-orange vegetables and fruits, f...
...versity scientists have unlocked the secrets of a ...tryway to infect human cells..Their findings, deta...he National .Academy of Sciences, may help slam th...l .pathogens known to man..A research team led by ...
Learning About Evolution Critical For Understanding Science 2Learning About Evolution Critical For Understanding Science 3Spinal Cord Injury Treatment May Improve With New Findings On Nervous System Damage 2Spinal Cord Injury Treatment May Improve With New Findings On Nervous System Damage 3Spinal Cord Injury Treatment May Improve With New Findings On Nervous System Damage 4Retinoic Acid Used In Cancer Treatment 2Purdue Finding May Snuff Out The Sniffles 2Purdue Finding May Snuff Out The Sniffles 3
...t can identify kidney tumours that are most likely...esearchers in the July issue of The Lancet Oncolog... the protein IMP3, "could therefore also be used t...kely benefit from additional treatment", says Zhon...
...oor soul is relegated to the middle of the back se..."un-cool" spot in the vehicle. It also happens to ...chers studied all auto crashes involving a fatalit...occupied the rear middle-seat.... ... They found t...
... a composite satellite image of global land cover ...tions in Geneva, as a testimony to the current sta...rations.... The image will be exhibited permanentl... the Palais des Nations compound. Mr Sergei Ordzho...
...r growing new areas of skin could provide a safer,...cers and similar injuries.... This ultra-fine, 3-d...developed polymers, looks similar to tissue paper ...d over a wound, the patient's skin cells (obtained...
health news:A car's middle back seat may be least desirable, but it's the safest 2health news:ESA donates mosaic of global images taken by Envisat to United Nations 2health news:Microscopic scaffolding offers a 'simple' solution to treating skin injuries 2
...spaghetti can provide almost 25 percent more prote...g to a report in the current (August) issue of the...r-reviewed journal of the American Chemical Societ... protein-fortified spaghetti uses corn gluten meal...
...education has taken a giant step forward with the ...Library. As of August 15, sessions from the recen...rmat that combines synchronized audio, video, slid...t. ...By the end of August, nineteen sessions are...
...nd used in cosmetics and food supplements may help...ermeable to air and water, according to a team of ...various parts of artificial heart devices are some...unt, professor of polymer science. "We decided to...
... received the second place young investigator awar...CS meeting for this poster presentation.......(Bla...enerative disease such as Parkinson's disease is t...entists study the brain's chemical pathways and tr...
health news:Spaghetti gets protein boost from corn gluten meal 2health news:Society of Nuclear Medicine launches Virtual Library 2health news:Clay reduces permeability of biomedical polymer 2health news:New chemistry being developed for delivery of neuroprotective drugs 2