*This content was produced by experts from the Weizmann Institute of Sciences, one of the most important centers in the world of multidisciplinary basic research in the field of natural and exact sciences, located in the city of Rejovot, Israel.
Even black and white fans cannot deny that the color renewed photography and cinema. And when it comes to understanding what happens inside the body, nothing replaces color. If possible, for example, MAPAR GENETIC EXPRESSION IN REAL time In our body’s cells through contrasting colors, scientists could glimpse vital biological processes that are currently invisible.
The problem is that bright multicolored proteins That scientists use to illuminate, so to speak, the internal functioning of the cells is of little help to observe deep processes of the body, since the thickness of the tissues darkens the brightness.
Researchers of the Weizmann Institute of Sciences They have demonstrated the possibility of observing these processes through magnetic resonance imagesor MRI, whose radio wave signs, unlike the glow of light, are not arrested by the tissues, regardless of their thickness. As reported in a study published in Nature Biotechnologyresearchers have developed a method to use MRI to track simultaneously, in two colors, The expression of two different genes.
The Method Allana the Way to Use MRI To observe a wide range of biological processes within the living body In research and clinic. When developing more, it can serve, for example, to examine how a region of the brain affects another, monitor the effects of cancer therapy or track the fate of the stem cells introduced into the body for therapeutic purposes.
“Magnetic resonance It could be used one day to observe the interior of the body for a prolonged periodto see what happens in the fabrics without the need to remove them for study at a microscope, ”says Dr. Amnon Bar-Shir, of the Department of Molecular Chemistry and Materials Science, who directed the research team.“ Our method is a great step in that direction ”.
When the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded in 2008 for the development of fluorescent proteins that would be used as “reporters” for Visualize gene expression to microscopeone of the winners, the late Roger Y. Tsien, declared in his acceptance speech that such fluorescence has its limitations, and that in the future they could be overcome through techniques such as magnetic resonance (RM).
It was a visionary statement; However, well -known gray -scale magnetic resonances that are used for diagnosis do not show gene activity, but only structural elements. The advanced multicolored RM imagesgenerated in certain circumstances, are not suitable for revealing gene expression.
When the MRI adapted to reflect the gene expression, it could only “inform” about one gene at a time, detecting a change in the intensity of the signal, which is recorded as a dark point in the black and white image. The crucial element that was missing to monitor biological processes was Ability to detect the expression of several genes simultaneously. As in fluorescent marking, this would ideally imply assigning different colors to genes.
To address the challenge, Weizmann scientists developed a two -step method: first, genetically modified two groups of cellsso that each group expressed one of two special proteins.
At the same time, they created a mixture of two types of molecular probes, designed to inject into the bloodstream and accumulate exclusively in the cells that expressed the modified proteins. Both probes were designed to Issue a signal in response to different magnetic resonance frequencieseach illuminating with a different color.
The Dra. Hyla Allouche-Arnonscientist at the Bar-Shir laboratory, directed the study, in which the Bar-Shir team and other researchers collaborated with Prof. Sarel Fleishman and Dr. Olga Khersonsky, of the Department of Biomolecular Sciences. When applying the method in living mice, scientists used an exceptionally powerful magnetic resonance team with a magnet of approximately 15 teslas, one of the few teams of this type in the world. The scanners captured the frequencies of molecular probesrevealing the exact position of the cells that expressed each protein and marking them in green and pink.
“The gene expression allows us to know what each cell does”says Allouche-Arnon. “Thanks to our method, magnetic resonance can be applied by researchers from various fields to trace the activity of all types of processes, for example, those that involve different types of brain or immune cells.”
The approach could develop further to map simultaneously, in color, the expression of more than two genes. And if it adapts for use in humans, it could allow researchers and doctors to observe important processes in action in an non -invasive way. For example, in the Cancer Cell Therapyprobes of different colors could be used to track the relative positions of the tumor and the therapeutic cells.
Among the study participants were also included Nishanth D. Tirukoti, research student at the Bar-Shir laboratory; Dr. Yoav Peleg, Dr. Orly Dym, Dr. Shira Albeck, Dr. Alexander Brandis and Tevie Mehlman of the Department of Basic Installations of Weizmann’s Life Sciences; Dr. Liat Avram and Dr. Talia Harris of the Department of Support for the Chemical Research of Weizmann; and Dr. Nirbhay N. Yadav of the Faculty of Medicine of Johns Hopkins.
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