Laser Light from a Living Cell

Living cell was for the first time used to obtain laser light, reports the BBC…

 

The process of obtaining laser light from a living cell begins with engineering the cells that can produce protein that emits light. The first such protein was found in luminous jellyfish. If you direct weak blue light on such cells, they begin to glow with a green laser light.

 

This discovery could greatly improve the microscope and all forms of light therapy in medicine. Laser light differs from ordinary light because of the small range of colors and waves that oscillate synchronously, and is used for everything  – from supermarket scanners at cash registers, through DVD players to industrial robots.

New Discovery by Malteo Gather and Seok Hyun Yun from the Wellman Center for photomedicine in the main hospital in Massachusetts is the first evidence that laser light can be produced from a living organism. In there work, the duo used a human kidney cells and operated on them with a green fluorescent protein found in jellyfish, usually called the “Torch that can on command light up a live organism.” When placing these manipulated kidney cells between two small mirrors at a distance of 20th millionth of a meter and acting on them with blue light, the cells emitted the laser light.

Kidney cells remained “alive” after the process, so the researchers concluded that a living organism with its natural laser can heal itself.

Taken from: www.dalje.com