New method to identify proteins in the living brain
August 16 , 2021 1244 days 912 0
Researchers, for the first time, have come up with a new and successful approach to identify the proteins inside different types of neurons in the brain of a living animal.
The new study was led by North western University and the University of Pittsburgh.
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Researchers in the new study designed a virus to send an enzyme to a precise location in the brain of a living mouse.
The enzyme, derived from soybeans, genetically tagged its neighbouring proteins in a predetermined location.
This technique took a snapshot of the entire set of proteins inside the living neurons, which can then be analysed post-mortem with mass spectroscopy.