Researchers at UCSD and UC Irvine have captured on video for the first time chemical signals that traverse human cells in response to tiny mechanical jabs, like waves spreading from pebbles tossed into a pond. The scientists released the videos and technical details that explain how the visualization effect was created as part of a paper published in the April 21 issue of Nature. The researchers working at the UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering’s Department of Bioengineering developed a novel molecular “reporter” system, which allowed the dynamic visualization of the activation of an important protein called Src. Peter Yingxiao Wang, lead author of the paper and a post-doctoral researcher in UCSD’s Jacobs School of Engineering spent two years designing the reporter molecules to light up selectively only when Src was activated, and not other proteins.
