Volume 7 Issue 3, March 2010

Researchers team up to teach computers to predict cell fate.

The pioneers of the first generation of widely used optogenetic tools now describe new variants that open further possibilities for studying neural function.

A method to differentially label each sister chromatid in a cell makes it possible to elucidate segregation patterns after mitosis and should help to pinpoint the mechanism behind nonrandom segregation in certain cell types.

Addition of next-generation sequencing to an assay of replication timing enables high-resolution genome-scale analyses of multiple cell types.

Researchers map functional interactions for 75% of the yeast genome using synthetic genetic array methodology.

Researchers engineer biological 'nanofactories' that can trigger a quorum sensing response in bacteria.

Mice with inducible reporter genes allow systemic profiling of gene expression throughout the brain.

As high-throughput techniques accelerate mapping of epigenetic marks, researchers are racing to find the biological meaning of these marks.

A new amyloid-prediction tool, Waltz, offers advantages over previous amyloid-prediction tools for distinguishing 'true' amyloids from amorphous aggregates.

Mosaic analysis in zebrafish (MAZe) allows lineage tracing and analysis of mosaic animals.

Prospective isolation of defined cell types is a crucial prerequisite for their molecular analysis, but the heterogeneity of populations yielded by current protocols obscures relevant information. New studies now use additional features from time-resolved imaging data for live prospective identification of cells with defined future behavior.

Simple minicircle vectors carrying four reprogramming factors induce pluripotency in adult human adipose stem cells and in neonatal fibroblasts without integration into the genome.

Conventional extracellular electrode recordings are generally limited to monitoring action potentials. But use of extracellular gold microelectrodes with microspines that are engulfed by a neuron generates efficient electrical coupling and allows detection of both action potentials and subthreshold synaptic potentials with a signal-to-noise ratio similar to that of conventional intracellular recordings.

Single-molecule fluorescence resonance energy transfer (smFRET) is applied in live cells and reveals the conformational changes of individual SNARE proteins upon entering a SNARE complex.

Chemically inducible dimerization probes selectively target proteins to the surface of specific organelles or tether organelles to each other, thus allowing precise spatiotemporal analysis of signaling events.

By subdividing a charge-coupled device (CCD) array into subgroups using a digital micromirror device and offsetting exposure times, temporal pixel multiplexing allows simultaneous high-speed and high-resolution imaging using a single CCD. This imaging modality allows 250 Hz microscopic imaging of fast cellular responses with a 10-Hz 1.3 megapixel camera

The fates of cultured neural progenitor cells can be predicted by algorithmic information theory-based computational analysis of time-lapse images of the cells.

A Cre-loxP–based technique allows triggering of heritable coexpression of a fluorescent marker along with any desired transgene, providing a versatile tool for clonal analysis of gene function in the zebrafish.

Tumor-initiating cells can be isolated from human glioma or from glioma cultures based on cellular autofluorescence and morphological features alone.

The use of membrane-tethered toxins to selectively block ion channel function in vivo is demonstrated. The approach is applied to blockade of voltage-gated calcium channels for inhibition of neurotransmission in the mouse.

Waltz is a position-specific amyloid-propensity prediction tool developed to distinguish between true amyloid sequences and amorphous β-aggregates.