[extropy-chat] On the verge of automated cell-sorting

[The Avantguardian]

--- Dan Clemmensen <dgc at cox.net> wrote:



> >
> Cell sorting was reduced to practice about 20 years
> ago.
> Google "cell sorting." get a great many hits,
> including
>
http://www.bdbiosciences.com/immunocytometry_systems/products/display_product.php?keyID=53
> 
> Commercial cell sorters use a system similar to a
> jet on an ink-jet
> head to produce tiny droplets that (statistically)
> contain either 0 one 
> cell.
> Each droplet is given an electrical charge, and is
> sampled (e.g. with a UV
> probe to see if it contains a cell of interest. if
> so, the droplet is 
> diverted into
> the "collected"stream using a static charge.

      Yes, but the flow cytometry and cell sorting
(FACS) system you describe can only dilleanate cells
by levels of specific proteins on their membranes. The
most powerful of these cannot distinguish between more
than 5 proteins at the same time and the cells have to
be run thorugh a big bulky machine to make it happen.
     The system described by the article is different
because the cells can be directly chosen off of a
microscope slide in real-time by someone looking
through a microscope who is looking at the morphology
of the cell and not proteins on the cell surface.
Trust me, every microbiologist will want one of these
puppies. 



The Avantguardian 
is 
Stuart LaForge
alt email: stuart"AT"ucla.edu

"The surest sign of intelligent life in the universe is that they haven't attempted to contact us." 
-Bill Watterson

__________________________________________________
Do You Yahoo!?
Tired of spam?  Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around 
http://mail.yahoo.com