Infographic: Nanostraw Extraction

Researchers devise a way to sample living proteins and RNAs from cells by using an electric current to briefly open pores in the membrane.

Written byRuth Williams

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Cells are cultured atop a polycarbonate membrane perforated in spots by vertical aluminum oxide nanostraws. At defined locations, where the membrane has been etched away lithographically, the nanostraws protrude from the membrane and contact the cells. A brief electric voltage is passed across the nanostraws, causing temporary perforations in the cell membrane. This allows small volumes of cytoplasm to diffuse into the nanostraws for collection in the reservoir of extraction buffer below the polycarbonate membrane.

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Meet the Author

Ruth Williams
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Ruth is a freelance journalist. Before freelancing, Ruth was a news editor for the Journal of Cell Biology in New York and an assistant editor for Nature Reviews Neuroscience in London. Prior to that, she was a bona fide pipette-wielding, test tube–shaking, lab coat–shirking research scientist. She has a PhD in genetics from King’s College London, and was a postdoc in stem cell biology at Imperial College London. Today she lives and writes in Connecticut.
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