Fluorescent protein focus

The discovery of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) and the development of technology that allows specific proteins to be tagged with GFP has fundamentally altered the types of question that can be asked using cell biological methods. It is now possible not only to study where a protein is within a cell, but also feasible to study the precise dynamics of protein movement within living cells. We have exploited these technical developments and applied them to the study of translation initiation factors in yeast, focusing particularly on the... 

Urwin, V. E. and Jackson, R. (1993) Two-dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis of proteins labeled with the fluorophore monobromobimane prior to the firstdimensional isoelectric focusing imaging of the fluorescent protein spot patterns using a cooled charge-coupled device. Anal. Biochem., 209, 57-62. 

The emissions of two fluorophores are separated by a dichroic in order to record two fluorescent proteins synchronously, as required for the exact superposition of proteins participating in highly dynamic processes. If the two channels are not precisely in the same focus, a lens should be inserted into one channel. 

One focus of interest at research universities has been in biophotonics. A lai e number of innovations in medicine and life sciences would be impossible without optical technologies. There is a subfield emerging called biomedical optics. The Center for Biophotonics, Science and Technology, located at the University of California, Davis, is focused on the development of optical tools and technology in medicine and the life sciences. Super-resolution optical microscopes, light sources, molecular sensors, and fluorescent proteins are developed there. 

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