Integrated genetic and computation methods for in planta cytometry
Fernán Federici, Lionel Dupuy, Laurent Laplaze, Marcus Heisler & Jim Haseloff
Nature Methods, Advance publication April 2012 (DOI 10.1038/nmeth.1940)

There is a critical need for improved techniques for the quantitative measurement of biological parameters within living systems. This new publication describes the integrated use of advanced genetic and imaging techniques for automated quantitative analysis of cell growth and genetic activity in living plant tissues. With this new technique, fluorescent protein markers can be used to identify cells, map cell geometries and provide ratiometric measurement of gene expression within intact tissues. The procedure, which we term in planta cytometry, allows the measurement of cellular properties in intact tissue, while retaining the cellular context for further studies.

The routine consists of four steps. (i) A genetic marker is used for the specific labeling of nuclei and cell membranes in transgenic plants. (ii) Fluorescence microscopy and image processing allows the counting of cells and extraction of positional information using a particle search algorithm (iii) Identified nuclei are used to initiate an active contour segmentation algorithm that uses a fluorescent signal located at the plasma membrane to extract information regarding size, shape and topology of cells. (iii) Cell-specific gene expression is quantified by ratiometric measurement of spectrally distinct nuclear fluorescent proteins expressed under the control of different regulated promoters. This new cytometry technique allows one to quantitatively measure cell activities within living organisms, and to precisely reconstruct cellular dynamics - and to produce a numerical description that can be used to inform computer models.

University of Cambridge.

Wellcome Trust–Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Postdoctoral Fellowships provide four years’ support for recently qualified postdoctoral researchers to gain experience of research at the interfaces between biology/medicine and mathematics, engineering, computer, physical or chemical sciences.

This scheme offers opportunities for postdoctoral scientists to undertake research at the interfaces between biology/medicine and mathematics, engineering, computer, physical or chemical sciences, firstly at MIT and then at a UK institution. Candidates will be expected to identify an important biomedical research question and to propose a personal interdisciplinary training programme to achieve their research aims.

The aim is to support those who will train in a new research area that is complementary to, but distinct from, their current field of expertise, to enable an interdisciplinary approach to their research question - e.g. you might be a physicist wanting to work on a biology-based programme, or a biologist wanting to undertake a bio-engineering project. For more information see: www.wellcome.ac.uk/mit/wn Deadline: 11 June 2012.

Synthetic Biology and metabolic engineering were placed at Number 2 in the list of top ten technologies that will have major global impacts in 2012. 

Emerging technologies are critical to building a sustainable and resilient future. But without new understanding, tools and capabilities, their safe and successful development is far from guaranteed. At the Summit on the Global Agenda 2011, the World Economic Forum asked some of the world’s leading thinkers which technology trends would have the greatest social, economic and environmental impacts on the state of the world in the near future. They were listed in order of greatest potential:

1. Informatics for adding value to information
2. Synthetic biology and metabolic engineering
The natural world is a testament to the vast potential inherent in the genetic code at the core of all living organisms. Rapid advances in synthetic biology and metabolic engineering are allowing biologists and engineers to tap into this potential in unprecedented ways, enabling the development of new biological processes and organisms that are designed to serve specific purposes – whether converting biomass to chemicals, fuels and materials, producing new therapeutic drugs or protecting the body against harm.
3. Green Revolution 2.0 – technologies for increased food and biomass
4. Nanoscale design of materials
5. Systems biology and computational modelling/simulation of chemical and biological systems
6. Utilization of carbon dioxide as a resource
7. Wireless power
8. High energy density power systems
9. Personalized medicine, nutrition and disease prevention
10. Enhanced education technology

For the full article see: (http://forumblog.org/2012/02/the-2012-top-10-emerging-technologies/)