Small but Mighty: Nanoparticles Probe Cellular Signaling Pathways.
Mechanical forces play key roles in regulating cellular pathways but are challenging to study using standard biological approaches. In a recent issue of Cell, Seo et al. (2016) present a platform for in vivo single-molecule manipulation, using magnetoplasmonic nanoparticles capable of imaging, localizing, and force-loading receptor proteins at high spatiotemporal resolution.
Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Darren
D
Yang
Program in Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Boston Children's Hospital, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA; Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering, Harvard University, Boston, MA 02115, USA. Electronic address: wesley.wong@childrens.harvard.edu.
Wesley P
WP
Wong
D002477:Cells / Q000378:metabolism*; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D015398:Signal Transduction