Washington, Feb 5 (ANI): Using a liquid laser, researchers have devised a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might make a person more vulnerable to a particular type of cancer or other diseases. <\/p>\n
This work by University of Michigan researchers could advance understanding of the genetic basis of diseases. <\/p>\n
It also has applications in personalized medicine, which aims to target drugs and other therapies to individual patients based on a thorough knowledge of their genetic information. <\/p>\n
The researchers say their technique works much better than the current approach, which uses fluorescent dye and other biological molecules to find and bind to mutated DNA strands. <\/p>\n
When a patrol molecule catches one of these rogues, it emits a fluorescent beacon. This might sound like a solid system, but it's not perfect. The patrol molecules tend to bind to healthy DNA as well, giving off a background glow that is only slightly dimmer than a positive signal. <\/p>\n
\"Sometimes, we can fail to see the difference,\" said Xudong Fan, an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and principal investigator on the project. <\/p>\n
\"If you cannot see the difference in signals, you could misdiagnose. The patient may have the mutated gene, but you wouldn't detect it.\" <\/p>\n
In the conventional fluorescence technique, the signal from mutated DNA might be only a few tenths of a percent higher than the background noise. With Fan's new approach it's hundreds of times brighter. <\/p>\n
\"We found a clever way to amplify the intrinsic difference in the signals,\" Fan said. <\/p>\n
He did it with a bit of backtracking. <\/p>\n
Liquid lasers, discovered in the late '60s, amplify light by passing it through a dye, rather than a crystal, as solid-state lasers do. Fan, who works at the intersection of biomedical engineering and photonics, has been developing them for the past five years. <\/p>\n
In his unique set-up, the signal is amplified in a glass capillary called a \"ring resonator cavity.\" <\/p>\n
Last year, Fan and his research group found that they could employ DNA (the blueprints for life that reside in all cells) to modulate a liquid laser, or turn it on and off. <\/p>\n
His group is one of just a few in the world to accomplish this, Fan said. At the time, they didn't have a practical application in mind. Then they had an epiphany. <\/p>\n
\"We thought, 'Let's look at the laser output. Can we see what's causing the different outputs and use it to detect differences in the DNA?'\" Fan said. <\/p>\n
\"I had an intuition, and it turns out the output difference was huge,\" Fan added. <\/p>\n
The journal editors named this a \"hot paper\" that \"advances knowledge in a rapidly evolving field of high current interest.\" <\/p>\n
The study has been published in German journal Angewandte Chemie. (ANI) <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Read the rest here: Washington, Feb 5 (ANI): Using a liquid laser, researchers have devised a better way to detect the slight genetic mutations that might make a person more vulnerable to a particular type of cancer or other diseases. This work by University of Michigan researchers could advance understanding of the genetic basis of diseases Continue reading
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