We have developed a technique to disrupt submicrometer-sized organelles within living cells or tissue without affecting the surrounding material or compromising viability of the cell or organism. When a femtosecond laser pulse is tightly focused into a nearly-transparent biological material, energy is deposited by nonlinear absorption only in the focus where laser intensity is high, resulting in disruption of the structure in the focal volume. Because the absorption is confined to the small focal volume, the surrounding material is unaffected, allowing micrometer precision in the disruption of biological tissue.
Mazur Group
Plainly Speaking
To unveil information about cell mechanisms, cell-biologists rely on chemical or biological inhibition of functions, lacking spatially discrimination. With the use of a laser focused by a microscope objective, one can achieve spatial resolutions in the �m-range. Near infrared femtosecond lasers are especially well suited for this kind of micromanipulation, as the energy deposited into the cell is very low and, thus, side effects, as high pressures or thermal damage, are minimized...
The detailed architecture of spindle microtubules, involved in cell division, was revealed using femtosecond laser nanosurgery. This work was performed in collaboration with the Needleman group (results published in Cell).