title: Studying individual events in biology.
abstract: Studying the properties of individual events and molecules offers a host of advantages over taking only macroscopic measurements of populations. Here we review such advantages, as well as some pitfalls, focusing on examples from biological imaging. Examples include single proteins, their interactions in cells, organelles, and their interactions both with each other and with parts of the cell. Additionally, we discuss constraints that limit the study of single events, along with the criteria that must be fulfilled to determine whether single molecules or events are being detected.
authors: Laboratory of Cellular Biophysics, The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 10021, USA.
authors: Stefan
authors: S
authors: Wennmalm
authors: Sanford M
authors: SM
authors: Simon
mesh_terms: D001681:Biological Assay; D002468:Cell Physiological Phenomena; D003952:Diagnostic Imaging; D004705:Endocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D005089:Exocytosis / Q000502:physiology; D005456:Fluorescent Dyes / Q000378:metabolism; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012107:Research Design; D012815:Signal Processing, Computer-Assisted
chemical_list: D005456:Fluorescent Dyes; D020409:Molecular Motor Proteins