It is always fascinating what researchers and scientists come up with, given the time and the proper kind of high tech equipment. In this article, researchers from MIT have developed what they call a “tractor beam” of light that can do all sorts of things – hold, pick up and even move individual cells and other samples on top of a minute microchip.
This newly discovered tool can be of significant value for all kinds of research, states Matthew J. Lang and David C. Appleyard, whose findings from this study has been published on the Lab on a Chip journal. Of course, the creation of such a tool cannot exist without the pre-existing idea of making tweezers out of light beams and without the use of the proper equipment. The actual concept has been floating for about 30 years now, but could not put into actual practice or research until the advent of micr-chip technology and compound trinocular microscopes came to being.
The tool is aptly called the optical tweezers and is one of the smallest microtools in the world we have today. The technology, when combined with other high magnification equipment like the compound trinocular microscope, can be used in microchip design and manufacturing, which involves very small and hard to see parts. The optical tweezers work by using a tiny beam of light from a laser to manipulate tiny objects around on tiny silicon chip. A glass surface is usually used, mounted on a compound trinocular microscope so that the parts can be seen and observed.
The researchers had to be creative and resourceful in developing the optical tweezers. They tested their tool on a myriad of cells and microscopic beads. They also worked on quite large beads. Their experimental objects ranged in size from 20 micrometers to millionths of a meter, moving them around with the laser light beam. They did this because living cells are of varied shapes and sizes, and they wanted to invent a tool that can be used specifically for working with human living cells. The results were quite promising, with the patience and hard work of the researchers paying off. The optical tweezers were so efficient that the researchers were able to manipulate 16 minute living E. coli cells to form the letters MIT onto a microchip at one time.
This invention seems like it should be on Star Trek or some futuristic thriller, but since it is happening in our time, at this computer age, where modern technology is a booming industry, we can assume that our researchers and scientists are taking advantage of the latest in technology and putting them to good use. As more and more inventions like these are being created, they can be applied and used in significant medical researches that can contribute to the treatment, cures and preventive measures of diseases that were once thought incurable or difficult to treat. We can only hope that more and more scientists are taking the initiative to apply tools like these in experiments that are not only eco friendly but will potentially help the healthcare and computer industries.