Largest physics meeting of the year, in Denver
...questions at the heart of biophysics. Atomic force microscopes allow one to unfold proteins essentially by hand, and to compare the energy of the folded and unfolded configurations. A new technique uses a microscopic cantilever, attached to the AFM tip, to pull and stretch a protein while measuring the protein's...MIT device draws cells close -- but not too close -- together
... device works without the use of tools such as the microscopes or robotic control arms typically required by MEMS devices. Because cells communicate via signals transmitted both through the touching of cell membranes and through soluble molecules that flow between separated cells, biologists need to vary the s...New report explores nanotechnology's future
...n 1 nanometer and 100 nanometers. As impressive as microscopes that "see" single atoms and as the other tools in the current generation of research instruments may seem, "these kinds of innovative nanotools are just the beginning," the report says. "The Nano Toolshed is still relatively empty." Filling it with m...Growing nerve cells in 3-D dramatically affects gene expression
.... Hoffman-Kim and her team deployed high-powered microscopes to detect other differences. Cells cultured in 3-D had a rounder, more realistic shape, and their neurites spindly projections sprouting from the cell body were longer. "The cells in 3-D culture grew faster and looked more like the body's cells,"...