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What can green fluorescent proteins teach us about diseases?

Green fluorescent proteins, or GFPs for short, are visibly advancing research in biology and medicine. By using GFPs to illuminate proteins otherwise undetectable under the microscope, scientists have learned a great deal about processes that take place within our cells. Particularly beneficial are the advances scientists have made in understanding diseases—from HIV to malaria and cancer, to name a few—by utilizing GFPs in their research.

But what are these advances, and how do scientists actually use GFPs in their experiments? In Illuminating Disease: An Introduction to Green Fluorescent Proteins, Marc Zimmer details the stories of many scientists who made great strides in their research by using GFPs. In this slideshow we’ve summarized some of those stories, accompanied by captivating images of GFPs in action.

 

Slideshow Image Credits:

Image 1: Aequorea victoria emitting florescent light, courtesy of Steven Haddock.
Image 2: Rhythm proteins within a genetically modified C. elegans, courtesy of Ken Norman, University of Utah.
Image 3: Red blood cells infected with a GFP-expressing strain of malaria. This image was originally published in Nature News and has been used with permission.
Image 4: Breast cancer cells labeled with GFPs. This image was originally published in Cell and has been used with permission.
Image 5: Kitten with GFP-tagged restriction factor from a rhesus monkey, testing its effect on FIV. This image was originally published in Nature Methods and has been used with permission.
Image 6: GFP-expressing spinal motor neurons in a chicken embryo. This image was originally published in Cell and has been used with permission.

Feature Image: Mammalian axons illuminated with GFPs. This confocal image was originally published in Nature and has been used with permission, courtesy of Jean Livet.

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