BehindTheMedspeak: Laser Tweezers

Science fiction has long fancied the tractor beam, a hypothetical device that can hold objects without touching them.

Scientists have been doing this for years with molecules and living cells using lasers, but only by controlling a single laser beam.

Arryx, a Chicago-based company, has discovered how to control thousands of these optical laser tweezers simultaneously, thus allowing it to introduce technology that has potential real-time biological applications.

They've just partnered with Haemonetics, a Braintree, Massachusetts maker of blood cell scavenging devices - "cell savers," in OR parlance - to develop a system that can sort blood cells.

This will allow much faster, easier, and more precise separation of whole blood into its component red cells, white cells, and platelets.

It will also remove bacteria and viruses from blood, both reducing the risks of transfusion and increasing the pool of potential blood donors.

Another area of major interest is in the fabrication of nanoscale computer chips and

biological sensors, currently being explored by a number of groups.

[via The Economist]