Lighting up single molecules

It is amazing to see the ingenuity of researchers in moving further and further ahead. From the first attempt to look at the infinitesimally small by Antoine van Leeuwenhoek in the XVII century scientists have invented better and better ways to look at living cells and inside the a living cell. 
Now researchers at Berkeley Lab have found a way to visualise single proteins inside a living neurone. They have manufactured nano particles that can be attached to specific molecules and turn fluorescent when illuminated by an infrared beam.
The nano particles can be as small as 4.8nm, so small not to affect the behaviour of the protein inside the neurone. The nano particles can up convert two infra red photons into one photon in the visible light spectrum. Hence by introducing the nano particles into the neurone the nano particles will bind onto the target molecule. By illuminating the neurone with photons with a wave length in the infrared the nano particles will fluoresce letting the researchers to follow the molecule inside the neurone.
This creates a resolution of over 100,000 times the one achieved by Leeuwenhoek! Amazing, isn’t it?
As scientists are able to explore more and more they create more and more data and this is the data deluge that is already upon us and will keep increasing in the coming years.

About Roberto Saracco

Roberto Saracco fell in love with technology and its implications long time ago. His background is in math and computer science. Until April 2017 he led the EIT Digital Italian Node and then was head of the Industrial Doctoral School of EIT Digital up to September 2018. Previously, up to December 2011 he was the Director of the Telecom Italia Future Centre in Venice, looking at the interplay of technology evolution, economics and society. At the turn of the century he led a World Bank-Infodev project to stimulate entrepreneurship in Latin America. He is a senior member of IEEE where he leads the New Initiative Committee and co-chairs the Digital Reality Initiative. He is a member of the IEEE in 2050 Ad Hoc Committee. He teaches a Master course on Technology Forecasting and Market impact at the University of Trento. He has published over 100 papers in journals and magazines and 14 books.