(Press-News.org) Optics researchers from the Universities of Glasgow and Bristol have developed an iPad application for accurate, easy and intuitive use of optical tweezers.
Optical tweezers, used to manipulate tiny particles through the use of highly focused laser beams, are the tool at the heart of much molecular biology – helping us to experiment with and better understand the microscopic processes of organisms.
Research published today, Friday 4 March 2011, in IOP Publishing's Journal of Optics, shows how a team of researchers has overcome the limitations of computer mouse and joy-stick controlled systems through the design of an iPad app.
Control of the lasers used in optical tweezers systems has often been limited by the functionality of the computer mouse or joystick, making it difficult to manipulate multi-particles in the range of directions researchers need to move particles in.
The new multi-touch-based application allows researchers a clear representative 3D view of particle systems and offers a range of techniques, like pinching the screen or tilting the iPad, for moving single and multi-particles left and right, up and down, and to rotate them.
To see the iPad application in action, go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n__oyfPtWRA
Due to the iPad's wireless capability, the app will also help with regards laser safety and avoiding experiment contamination.
The researchers write, "Our iPad-based interface allows intuitive control of a holographic optical tweezers system using a dedicated application on the iPad and a modified version of our tweezers' control software running on a host PC.
"The interface is responsive and easy to use, so even inexperienced users can trap particles, move them around and translate the microscope stage."
###
The researchers' paper can be downloaded from Friday 4 March 2011 here: http://iopscience.iop.org/2040-8986/13/4/044002/pdf/2040-8986_13_4_044002.pdf
This work has been funded by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) through their Basic Technology Programme.
END
Johns Hopkins scientists have discovered that PARIS — the protein — facilitates the most common form of Parkinson's disease (PD), which affects about 1 million older Americans. The findings of their study, published March 4 in Cell, could lead to important new targets for treatment.
Previous research has shown that a protein dubbed parkin protects brain cells by "tagging" certain toxic elements for natural destruction. Mutations in the parkin gene cause rare forms of PD that run in families, but its role remained unclear in sporadic late-onset PD, the prevalence of which ...
Star-shaped cells in our brains called astrocytes were once considered little more than structures to fill the gaps between all-important neurons. But more recent evidence has emerged to reveal that those astrocytes play more than a supporting role; they are involved in information processing and signal transmission and they help to regulate the shapes of our neurons and their connections to one another.
Now, researchers reporting in the March 4th Cell, a Cell Press publication, have found that astrocytes are also essential for making long-term memories. When they don't ...
Scientists have performed a micro-probe analysis of the core and outer layers of a pea-sized piece of a meteorite some 4.57 billion years old to reconstruct the history of its formation, providing the first evidence that dust particles like this one experienced wildly varying environments during the planet-forming years of our solar system.
The researchers interpret these findings as evidence that dust grains traveled over large distances as the swirling protoplanetary nebula condensed into planets. The single dust grain they studied appears to have formed in the hot ...
If you tend to have trouble picking up the latest dance moves or learning to play a new piano piece, there might be an explanation. A new study published online on March 3rd in Current Biology, a Cell Press publication, shows that people who are fast to learn a simple sequence of finger motions are also those whose brains show large changes in a particular chemical messenger following electrical stimulation.
That chemical messenger, known as GABA, is important for the plasticity of the motor cortex, a brain region involved in planning, control, and execution of voluntary ...
A new study finds that a brain rhythm considered the hallmark of wakefulness not only persists inconspicuously during sleep but also signifies an individual's vulnerability to disturbance by the outside world. In their report in the March 3 PLoS One, the team from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Division of Sleep Medicine uses computerized EEG signal processing to detect subtle fluctuations in the alpha rhythm during sleep and shows that greater alpha intensity is associated with increased sleep fragility. The findings could lead to more precise approaches to ...
There have been no shortages of horrific natural disasters splashing across headlines in the last year: the devastating earthquakes in Haiti and Chile; the Tsunami in the Philippines; and the volcano eruption in Indonesia--to name just a few. The poly tarps have come to the rescue over and over again in these situations, providing a cheap yet durable material with which to construct a roof or otherwise assist in the process of recovering and rebuilding from natural disaster born tragedy.
In the event of a natural disaster, as people are forced out of their homes or lose ...
How do organs "know" when to stop growing? The answer could be useful in regenerative medicine, and also in cancer – where these "stop growing" signals either aren't issued or aren't heeded. Researchers in the Stem Cell Program at Children's Hospital Boston have now found a regulator of gene activity that tells epidermal stem cells when it's time to grow more skin, as well as a "crowd control" molecule that can sense cell crowding and turn the growth off.
The work, in mice and in human cancer cells, provides clues to new therapeutic strategies for cancer, particularly ...
Not all racial and ethnic groups have equal access to kidney transplantation, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society Nephrology (JASN). The results indicate that the reasons for these disparities are varied and that more focused efforts are needed to address them.
For most individuals who develop kidney failure or end-stage renal disease, kidney transplantation is the best treatment option. Unfortunately, certain racial and ethnic groups are less likely to receive kidney transplants than others. Despite the increasing ...
STANFORD, Calif. — Neurons have been derived from the skin of a woman with a genetic form of Parkinson's disease and have been shown to replicate some key features of the condition in a dish, say researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The scientists hope to use the neurons to learn more about the disorder and to test possible treatments. Such a tool is critical because there are no good animal models for Parkinson's disease. It also validates the use of induced pluripotent stem cells, or iPS cells, to model various diseases.
"Now that we can see that ...
STANFORD, Calif. — A short-term treatment with three immune-dampening drugs allowed human embryonic stem cells to survive and thrive in mice, according to researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. Without such treatment, the animals' immune systems quickly hunt down and destroy the transplanted cells. The finding is important because it may allow humans to accept transplanted stem cells intended to treat disease or injury without requiring the ongoing use of powerful immunosuppressant medications.
Just as it does with transplanted organs, the human body ...
