Using a water droplet 1 trillion times smaller than a liter of
club soda as a sort of nanoscale test tube, a University of
Washington scientist is conducting chemical analysis and
experimentation at unprecedented tiny scales. The method
captures a single cell, or even a small subcellular structure
called an organelle, within a droplet. It then employs a
powerful laser microscope to study the contents and examine
chemical processes, and a laser beam is used to manipulate the
cell or even just a few molecules, combining them with other
molecules to form new substances. This nanoscale "laboratory" is
so minuscule that it covers just 1 percent of the width of a
human hair, said Daniel Chiu, a UW associate chemistry professor
who is developing the unique method. "Anything you can do in the
test tube we hope to be able to do in the droplet. We just don't
need a lot of cells. We don't even need one cell, just a few
molecules," Chiu said. The new approach makes it easier to get a
wide range of information about a cel