The Brainbow!

This is the third post of a three-part series on fluorescent proteins and neurobiology. The first part is on Osamu Shimomura and the second on the mutations made in the proteins (shiny pictures included).

Today? Today is... the BRAINBOW!

Brainbow image of hippocampal neurons. Courtesy of Jeff Lichtman/Harvard University

This, my friend, is what your brain looks like. Or, well, what it would look like if we used the fluorescent proteins in it.

You remember how last Tuesday I explained they could add a fluorescent protein to any other, making it easy to detect? And you remember the various colours created through genetic mutations? (If you don't, link at the top.)

Well, the Brainbow is perhaps the most spectacular use of this technique. Each individual neuron expresses a different amount of the red, blue and green mutants of the original GFP. Because the mix is not the same in each neuron, the resulting colour varies with every single neuron.

You can see, the result is striking. Since the technique was developped in 2007, multiple pictures were taken, some winning scientific images awards.

So here are some others, for your enjoyment!

Brainbow image of the dentate gyrus. Courtesy of Jeff Lichtman/Harvard University

 

 

 

Confocal microscopy by Tamily A. Weissman

I don't know for you, guys, but at this point I just call this art. Brainbow pictures give me an instant geekgasm. Neurons! With colours! Not to mention, this highlights the amazing complexity of our brains, and how much we've yet to learn about ourselves.

Kudos to the scientists working tirelessly on it. I'm too busy staring at the pretty picture!

Fluorescent Proteins Part 2: Genetic Manipulations

This is the second post of a three-part series on fluorescent proteins and neurobiology. The first part is on Osamu Shimomura and the third will be on... the Brainbow! I really can't wait to get to the brainbow. 

So, our good friend Osamu Shimomura discovered green fluorescent protein in a tiny jellyfish. Cool, right? But what the hell can they do with this?

In 1962, not much. When genetic engineer techniques evolved and became viable researched tools in the 1980s, the possibilities became endless many.

The awesome thing with GFP is that you can attach it to other proteins. You just put the gene for it next to the other protein's gene, and when the cell produces the protein, it has a GFP attached to it. It's like magic, only it's real!

Proving the GFP could be attached and expressed by cells was made at Martin Chalfie's lab, the second recipient of the 2008 Nobel prize.

What they do with these proteins is that they attach it to another, then they send light of a particular wavelength on it. It absorbs, and gives back light at a different wavelength. It's not hard to detect that light, and the images we get are better with every passing year.

They modified the GFP to give it a wide range of colours and make it easier to insert. This work was made at Roger Tsien's laboratory. Tsien is the third recipient of the 2008 Nobel prize. He created mutants that were stable and produced a lot of fluorescence.

Pretty colours!

Then he and his lab had fun, put the proteins in bacteria and... created a beach!

That, my friends, is science at its best. Crazy and pretty!

Fluorescent Proteins Part 1: Osamu Shimomura

This is the first post of a three-part series on fluorescent proteins and neurobiology. The second part is on the genetic mutations these proteins underwent and the third is on a spectacular use of them... the Brainbow! There will be shiny pictures, I promise.

You remember when I said there'd be more science around the blog? Well, it starts today and continues next week, with a short serie on neurophotonics.

Our first topic is Osamu Shimomura, recipient of the 2008 Chemistry Nobel Prize (with two others) and finder of the first green fluorescent protein.

This guy!

Let's have a little history!

Back in the 1962, a molecular and marine biologist, Osamu Shimomura, discovered and isolated a fluorescent protein from the jellyfish Aequorea victoria. He might not have realised it back then, but this discovery would one day push neurology into a new era.


Osamu Shimomura has an interesting history, which is why he gets his own post. He lived in Isahaya, Nagasaki in 1945, 15 miles from the atomic bomb's epicenter. He was 16 at the time. Apparently, the bomb's explosion blinded him for thirty seconds, and he was later drenched by the bomb's "black rain" fallout. I don't know for you, but it feels crazy to think that if he'd been, say, visiting Nagasaki that day, neurology wouldn't be half as advanced as it is today.

At the same time, if the bomb had not been dropped, Shimomura might never have gone into sciences. To this day, he recalls having no interest in the subject at the time. In post-war Japan, however, you don't have that many educational choices. The bomb had destroyed the Nagasaki Medical College, forcing the pharmacy school to move... at a campus near his home. He joined, got his degree, and from there continued to the Nagasaki University, where he met his wife.

Life, huh?

His work with fluorescent protein was noticed by an american professor, Frank Johnson, who invited to Princeton to join his team in 1960.

Despite being found in 1962, it wasn't until the early 90s that biochemists began to realise the green fluorescent proteins' potential as a research tool.

But that's for next week! You can expect many cool pictures of fluorescent madness. What they do with these proteins is outright crazy.