Lasers, custom microscope illuminate gene splicing

Postdoctoral fellow Aaron Hoskins on how lasers and a custom microscope illuminate gene splicing. From neurosurgery to bar code readers, lasers have been used in a myriad of applications since they were first introduced in the late 1950s. Now, with the work being done in Jeff Gelles' Lab at Brandeis University, researchers have developed a way to use lasers to study the splicing of pre-messenger RNA molecules, an essential process in creating proteins to sustain advanced organisms, including human life. This process of splicing is carried out by a cellular micro-machine called the spliceosome.

Read the full story at Brandeis NOW: http://www.brandeis.edu/now/2011/march/spliceosome.html

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Education

Tags:

• Laser
• Brandeis
• spliceosome
• Jeff Gelles
• lab
• microscope