Rotational forces play an important role in many biological processes, from the movement of bacteria to the development of cell membranes. Measuring these forces is crucial for understanding how cells work, but it has been difficult to do so in living cells.
Now, researchers from the University of Michigan have developed a new technique that can measure the rotational motion of cells with unprecedented accuracy. The key to the new method is a specially-designed microscope that can track the minute changes in the orientation of fluorescent molecules inside cells.
With this system, the researchers were able to measure the rotational forces of individual cells with a resolution of less than a nanometer per second. This is several orders of magnitude better than any other method currently available.
The new technique could have a major impact on our understanding of how cells work. In particular, it could help us to understand how cell membranes are formed and how bacteria move.
This is an exciting advance that could lead to many new insights into the workings of cells.
In a recent study, engineering researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have developed a new technology that can measure the rotational motion of cells. According to the research team, this is the first time that such measurements have been possible.
The new technology is based on a custom-built microscope that uses laser tweezers to trap and rotate a single cell. By tracking the cell’s movement over time, the researchers were able to measure the cell’s rotational stiffness, which is a measure of how easy or difficult it is for the cell to rotate.
To test the new technology, the researchers used it to measure the rotational stiffness of human red blood cells and found that they were significantly stiffer than those of mouse red blood cells. This finding could have important implications for the study of diseases like sickle cell anemia, which is caused by a mutation in a protein that is involved in the rotational stiffness of red blood cells.
The new technology could also be used to study other cell types, including cancer cells, and to investigate the role of rotation in cell division.
