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Artistic representation of a laser-induced stroke injury in brain microvessels. Picture courtesy of David Kleinfeld; adaptation by Erin Boyle. Article p99
Understanding of the sequelae of cerebral microvascular injury has been hampered by a lack of animal models to enable precise localization of injury. In this issue, Nishimura et al. describe a stroke model that couples two-photon laser-scanning mapping of the cerebral cortex with femtosecond laser technology to produce three distinct microvascular injuries characterized by hemorrhage, vessel leakage or vessel occlusion.
Intracellular protein-protein interactions form the basis of most biological processes. Structural aspects of these reactions can now be analyzed in living prokaryotic cells and in atomic detail by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy.
Automation has increased the speed of DNA sequencing by established methods by several orders of magnitude. Now, commercial and academic efforts to develop alternative sequencing technologies are trying to push the envelope even further. Laura Bonetta reports.