Maneuvering with Mother Nature: Knowing Cell Manipulation Microscopes

In this day and age of scientific advances that come by the hour, even the media is well-informed on the latest in laboratory work all over the world. If you have been constantly watching the news, reading the newspapers, or even browsing through online journals to look for scientific news to read about, then you might have read about scientists manipulating cells and creating changes with a few well-designed, precise instruments. To help them do this, they need cell manipulation microscopes.

The picture might be familiar to you: a large, grayish cell, with a smoky, shiny interior, is held in place by a bulky, blunt piece of glass, and then prodded with a thin needle. All this work is done with a cell manipulation microscope, the best scientific tools, and the precise hand of a very relaxed researcher. All this work, moreover, comes after so many protocols that ensure cell health and the feasibility of the experiment that has to be carried out.

What Work Comes before the Use of a Cell Manipulation Microscope?

Working at the level of the cell can be a daunting task for any researcher. After all, cells are not the strongest specimens to push, prod, and pin things onto; even the slightest disturbance in terms of gravity or motion can destroy a cell and keep an experiment from every being finished. In order to understand the use of a cell microscope, you therefore need to understand how delicate a cell is, and what it can be used for.

Outside of the extracellular matrix, a cell is simple a mass of molecules: it has a thin membrane to house several organelles and the all important genetic information in the nucleus. Despite the oversimplified drawings that you might have seen on TV, on the Internet, in newspapers, and in your basic biology books, the nucleus is not a tiny dot in the vast wilderness of the cell. It is quite large, and it can take up a great amount of cell volume.

Because the nucleus comprises a large part of the cell, this means that the genetic material is always in danger of being damaged. To any scientist, this can mean the end of a research career: today’s popular field of molecular biology is reliant on the integrity of the genetic material, and work related to cell manipulation in this field requires that cells be of the highest quality. Cell manipulation is common in studies that involve placing new genetic material directly into the nucleus of the cell.

Injecting genetic material directly into the cell nucleus can damage a cell if it is not done correctly. A needle has to pass through the delicate cell and nuclear membranes, and the genetic material has to be injected into the nucleus without any danger of it escaping. To do this, a cell has to be kept in a good amount of buffers that will strengthen the cell membrane. To accomplish the task of genetic transfer, a scientist needs a very good cell manipulation microscope.

What’s All the Hype About Cell Manipulation Microscopy? Contrary to popular belief, cell manipulation is not only about inserting genetic material into a cell. It can include looking at cells under a microscope and gauging what nutrients they need in order to develop better. If stem cells are being considered, cell manipulation microscopy work might mean looking at a cell culture, and then adding chemicals that can drive stem cells to develop into, or differentiate, into specific cell types.

When direct cell manipulation has to be done, however, the cell manipulation microscope must have special properties. First, its light has to be muted well enough not to damage the cell, but bright enough for the researcher to see what he or she is doing. Second, it may have to be connected to a television monitor: this can allow the researcher to see his or her work better, for other researchers to learn from that particular researcher’s techniques, and for broadcast later to people who want to learn more about that particular research.

There are two main tools that are needed for direct cell manipulation. One is the suction pipette, which holds the cell in place. Such a suction pipette should exert enough force to keep the cell in place, but be gentle enough not to deform it. The slightest deformation can destroy the cell nucleus. The other tool is the micropipette, which passes through the cell membrane, and into the cell cytoplasm.

The best cell manipulation microscopes, however, cannot work if a researcher does not have a steady hand. Because of the extremely delicate nature of cell manipulation work, scientists have to be trained for cell manipulation. Some engineers are also developing robots that can do manipulation work that is gentle enough for experiments on cells. Whatever the case, with more developments in research and technology, there may soon be better cell manipulation microscopes for the researchers of the future.