Q: What happens when you 3D-print an elephant and a microlaser inside a living cell?
"They 3D-printed microscopic bar codes and an elephant inside living cells, and that too without causing any changes in their DNA. This technique could kickstart a whole new way of studying, labeling, and customizing cells without altering their genetic material.
"For instance, “one of the applications we explored is barcoding, which involves writing a specific code on each cell for the purpose of identification and long-term tracking of the cell,” the study authors note."
Moreover, this unique 3D printing approach could also enable
But the main question is how do you actually 3D print something inside a living, fragile cell without killing it?
To print microscopic structures, scientists need to inject a liquid material called a photoresist into the cell. This special material solidifies when exposed to focused laser light, making it essential for creating tiny 3D shapes. However, most photoresists are toxic to cells, and the injection process itself can rupture the cell membrane.
These hurdles have made intracellular 3D printing nearly impossible—until now. To break through this barrier, the researchers used a clever approach called two-photon polymerization (TPP). This process begins with injecting a droplet of a liquid polymer, the photoresist, into the cell’s cytoplasm.
This photoresist solidifies only when it absorbs two laser photons at the same time, a process that requires extremely precise focusing of light. A powerful, highly focused laser beam is then used to draw tiny structures inside the cell. The photoresist solidifies only at the laser’s focal point, which lets the researchers build detailed 3D structures layer by layer, without damaging the rest of the cell." ZME