Scientists have managed to coax mammalian kidney cells into producing laser beams. In addition, the cells also survived the experience. This is the first time that laser light has been produced in a biological system.
A laser normally consists of two mirrors positioned at either end of a ‘lasing’ material that provides gain for the light. Energising this system with an external light source, causes the laser to excite and produce coherent laser light.
The ‘lasing’ material in this experiment by Malte Gather and Seok-Hyun Yun of Harvard University, was in fact mammalian kidney cells that had been modified with a loop of DNA (GFP) that is responsible for fluorescence in Jelly fish.
The cells successfully produced laser light and even after a few minutes of lasing, the cells survived intact.
Who knows, perhaps one day we will see a ‘Cyclops’ from ‘X-Me’n like human shooting laser beams from their eyes… Erm, perhaps not but anything that combines Bilogy and lasers is a good thing in my books.
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