Scientists at Cornell University have for the first time optically isolated individual biological molecules in naturally occurring molecular concentrations and watched their complex behavior as they interact with a protein.

The technique, made possible by the ability of nanofabrication to produce a microchip with light-impeding holes with a diameter one-tenth of the wavelength of light, could promise a new method of DNA sequencing by which the genetic code can be “read” from a single DNA molecule.

It also promises to aid in future drug discovery because “it provides a very powerful way of looking at fluctuations and variability in behavior of individual enzyme molecules.”

News tip: Walter Purvis