Apoptosis, programmed cell death, is essential to normal development, healthy immune system function, and cancer prevention. The process dramatically transforms cellular structures but the limitations of conventional microscopy methods have kept much about this structural reorganization a mystery.
Now, in research featured on the cover of the current issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, University at Buffalo scientists have developed a biophotonic imaging approach capable of monitoring in real-time the transformations that cellular macromolecules undergo during programmed cell death.
The work could help realize the potential of customized molecular medicine, in which chemotherapy, for example, can be precisely targeted to cellular changes exhibited by individual patients. It can also be a valuable drug development tool for screening new compounds.
"This new ability provides us with a dynamic mapping of the transformations occurring in the cell at the molecular level," says study co-author Paras N. Prasad, PhD, executive director of the UB Institute for Lasers, Photonics and Biophotonics (ILPB) and SUNY Distinguished Professor in the departments of Chemistry, Physics, Electrical Engineering and Medicine. "It provides us with a very clear visual picture of the dynamics of proteins, DNA, RNA and lipids during the cell's disintegration."
Prasad notes that molecular medicine, in which treatments or preventive measures can be tailored to cellular properties exhibited by individual patients, depends on much better methods of visualizing what's happening during critical cellular processes.
"This research helps improve our understanding of cellular events at the molecular level," he says. "If we know that specific molecular changes constitute an early signature of a disease, or what changes may predispose a patient to that disease, then we can take steps to target treatment or even prevent the di
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| Contact: Ellen Goldbaum goldbaum@buffalo.edu 716-645-4605 University at Buffalo Source:Eurekalert |
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