They manage to make violaser with human cells

2011/07/01 Elhuyar Zientzia Iturria: Elhuyar aldizkaria

• Fisika
• Bioteknologia
• Genetika

After 50 years since the invention of the laser, for the first time they have managed to manufacture a laser with biological material. Physicists at Harvard Medical School have taken this step and published their work in the specialized journal Nature Photonics.

According to physicists, the laser is an amplified light, of a single color and coherent, and to achieve this two things are needed: a material that amplifies the light coming from an external source, and a certain organization of mirrors, to concentrate the light and form a compact beam.

Various materials, some solids, other liquids, and even gases, but never biological materials have been used for light amplification. This time they have used a protein, the fluorescent green protein (GFP). This protein is well known, among other things, for its use as a cellular marker in biology.

Researchers have genetically modified human embryonic renal cells to form a fluorescent green protein. Then a single cell has been placed in a 20 micrometer wide cavity between two mirrors and blue light pulses have been sent to it. The cell then emits a visible laser beam at a glance. In addition, the cell has not been damaged in the process.

Although this research field is still in its beginnings, researchers have already begun to look for applications such as therapy, biotechnology or interfaces between computers and people.