Virus tricked into glowing reveals entryway to cellular victim

Enlarge / The microtubules inside a cell, here shown in green, are like a race track for viruses. (credit: National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research)

One of the reasons that I tend to stick to physics is that the subject is actually pretty simple. Any single bit of chemistry is more complicated than all of physics put together. Biology, in all its wonders, simply boggles what little of my mind is left.

With that in mind, the idea of me writing about viruses seems like a bit of a joke. But a cool development that allows researchers to track single viral particles and watch them invade their hapless victims is simply too good to pass up.

Glowing virus illuminated well-worn path?

Tracking single virus particles is not exactly new. The idea is that you attach some sort of molecule that will glow to the virus. Then, you hit the sample with an exciting laser and look for glowing points of light. Optical microscopes can then track the virus' location with very high precision.

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