High-Precision Protein-Tracking With Interferometric Scattering Microscopy.

The mobility of proteins and lipids within the cell, sculpted oftentimes by the organization of the membrane, reveals a great wealth of information on the function and interaction of these molecules as well as the membrane itself. Single particle tracking has proven to be a vital tool to study the mobility of individual molecules and unravel details of their behavior. Interferometric scattering (iSCAT) microscopy is an emerging technique well-suited for visualizing the diffusion of gold nanoparticle-labeled membrane proteins to a spatial and temporal resolution beyond the means of traditional fluorescent labels. We discuss the applicability of interferometric single particle tracking (iSPT) microscopy to investigate the minutia in the motion of a protein through measurements visualizing the mobility of the epidermal growth factor receptor in various biological scenarios on the live cell.

Designing and implementing bioimpedance spectroscopy device by measuring impedance in a mouse tissue.

Studies show that any complications including hemorrhage, lack of blood supply, lack of oxygen supply and death of cells in a tissue, will have a clear effect on electrical properties of that tissue. Thus, by measuring impedance of a set of tissues, potential problems of the damaged tissue may be found. Since electrical impedance is closely related to the measuring frequency, obviously, every tissue exhibits its own specific impedance according to its electrical properties at each frequency. This research project investigates design and manufacture method of a device for measuring tissue impedance at different frequencies. To this end, design of a multi frequency sinusoidal current source is required. This current source is built using a single harmonic Generator sample (Direct Digital Synthesizer AD9835) with working frequency (design-point frequency) between 1 Hz and 10 MHz and accuracy of 1 Hz and microcontroller (PIC16F628) capability. For measurement and display of tissue impedance, ARM AT91SAMs256 microcontroller was used. Thus, with this hardware created, it shows that there are significant impedance changes between mouse tissues.