Researchers at Janelia have developed a groundbreaking new biosensor technology that can track multiple physiological signals in living animals, shedding light on the inner workings of cells, tissues, and organs. This innovative approach has the potential to transform our understanding of biological processes and open new avenues for scientific discovery.
Overcoming the Challenges
This route was not an easy method but they had to pass through all this trouble back home. At first, the researchers thought they had solved the problem by combining engineered protein biosensors and high-contrast fluorescent dyes. However when the researchers attempted to employ the sensors in living animals, they hit a roadblock: the dyes were unable to penetrate tissue.
Never to be deterred from a challenge, the postdoc Helen Farrants took up tools. Working from scratch, she came up with a new approach to make the protein biosensors and dyes perfectly complementary. The method involved was the fluorescence of dye modulated by an amino acid named tryptophan,getKey to success As a result, the dyes were efficiently uptaken by the tissues and biosensors could detect physiological signals in free-moving animals.
Shedding Light on Cellular Communication
The first sensor to come out of the new method, dubbed WHaloCaMP, senses calcium signals—an essential function in cell-to-cell signaling28. They have shown that WHaloCaMP can be used to visualize calcium signals in intact live fruitflies, zebrafish, and mice.
However, the team’s cleverness doesn’t end there. Their work illustrates the potential of this approach to develop a family of sensors for monitoring a variety of other key physiological signals. Providing a way to see these signals in real time within living animals, and giving biologists new glimpses on the behaviors of how cells, tissues, and organs come together to perform unique functions.
Using different colors that correspond to specific labels allows for the simultaneous detection of several signals at once, further increasing this technologys potential. They tested this in zebrafish, allowing them to follow changes in glucose alongside muscles (which change calcium when they contract) and other neurons all at the same time, which was something you needed multiple sensors to look at previously.
Conclusion
The development of this ground-breaking biosensor technology is a major milestone in the field of biological imaging. By surpassing the drawbacks of previous sensors and allowing for simultaneous tracking of multiple physiological signals within live animals, this new technology provides scientists with a new instrument to disentangle these intricate processes at play in living organisms. The discovery could have wide effects on much of the research revolving around fundamental biological mechanisms and stimulate new paths for studying and developing treatments.
