The top 10 innovations of 2008 as reported in ‘Science’ are likely to make life sciences research easier and cheaper. Either totally new or an advancement on existing technology, these innovations are indications that the life sciences field is still growing. Rranked by some noted experts and biologists, these are:

1. Low-Cost Sequencing – Released in May 2008, this machine can sequence the human genome for $60,000. This system can generate six gigabases of mappable sequence data per run. The whole genome sequencing, which would take weeks in the earlier days, now seems to be less time consuming and affordable.

2. Continuous Focus Microscopy – When viewing an object through a microscope, the eyes often move off the target. In scientific parlance, this is focus drift, one of the biggest challenges in high resolution and live cell imaging. In January 2008, Nikon unveiled a solution to this problem by designing Perfect Focus System (PFS). It is a hardware component that uses a half-moon shaped beam of infrared light to track optical offset and correct for it by sampling every 5 milliseconds.

3. Custom Zinc-Finger Platform – Manipulation of genomes of living organism becomes easier with a new custom zinc-finger protein creation service called CompoZr. With this, scientists can knock-out (suppress) or knock-in (activate) genes to the level of a single nucleotide (the component making up the DNA.)

4. Open Source Sequencing – The first “open source” gene sequencing instrument with its software and specifications is freely available to the public. Developed as a part of the personal genome project, it is meant to encourage a more diverse group of researchers to do their own sequencing at an affordable cost.

5. Cell Cycle Imaging in Vivo – Fluorescent ubiquitination-based cell cycle indicator, or Fucci, helps biologists understand the finer details by tracking how dividing cells alternate between green and red flashes (indicators of tagged fluroscent proteins). Scientists have already started applying Fucci technique as a means for examining candidate anticancer drugs and their impact on tumor cell division and migration.

6. Pet/MRI Combined Imaging – Combining the two technologies-MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging) and PET (Positron Emission Tomography), this technology designed for imaging studies in small animals will help trace radiolabelled tracers. Further work is in progress on the next generation design, a PET add on, in locating low abundance molecules.

7. White Laser Confocal Instrument – With this, researchers can make the most of every sample put on the instrument as against the restriction posed by conventional confocal instruments which limit the researcher’s choice of both fluorescent dyes and the experiments.

8. Multispectral Signaling X-Ray – Enabling researchers to view the movement of molecules within small animals in nearly real-time, this tool lets scientists study the progression of disease states at the molecular level in living animals.

9. Optical Lock in Detection – The current FRET (fluroscence resonance energy transfer) technology advancement at the Madison University has made possible spotting of protein-protein interactions easier in tissues and mammalian cells. In the standard FRET technology, with more than 10,000 variations of the fluorescent proteins used for spotting, the interactions between target proteins in live cells was found to be difficult due to problem in the background. The recent FRET technology is based on a single protein GFP (green fluroscent protein) and this can reduce background in live tissue staining, making observations easier for biologists.

10. Microfluidics - Manipulating the behaviour of fluids constrained in small volume is called microfluidics and its practical applications are seen in inkjet printheads, DNA chips, lab-on-a-chip technology, micro-propulsion, and micro-thermal technologies. Microfluidics has already made a huge impact on biopharma work and is likely to enable researchers create their own lab-on-chips which are miniature devices for performing laboratory experiments on a small scale. Fluids being one of the main component for lab experiments can be managed well with the “lab-on-chips” concept.

(Gene News, Jan-Feb, 2009)