Molecular Watercolor: Mixing Fluorescent Proteins to Label Families of Cells

Molecular Watercolor: Mixing Fluorescent Proteins to Label Families of Cells

Collections: Image Award Winners

2013 Award Winner

Robert Mathis
Gupta Laboratory

Koch Institute at MIT, Whitehead Institute

Cancer cells inside a single tumor are monoclonal; that is, they are family, all traceable back to a common ancestor. Within a tumor family tree, however, genetic instability produces branches that are wildly different from one other. How can scientists track these “families” inside a tumor and identify the most invasive and dangerous? One could label each family with a different colored fluorescent protein, but only a few protein colors are available and there are many families to track. So, like painters with a limited palette, researchers created varied mixtures of red, green, and blue proteins inside cells, revealing the rainbow of different families seen here.

Video

Robert Mathis tells the story behind his award-winning image.

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