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www.voicechronicle.com_tech-and-science 2015 0000174.txt

#Superabsorbent Polymer Blows Up Brain Samples To Give a Better View Researchers have come up with an inexpensive technique for enlarging brain samples and studying them more closely. Researchers from the Massachusetts institute of technology (MIT) have developed a new method that expands brain tissue so that nanoscale structures can be seen with an ordinary light microscope. This new technique uses commonly available chemicals to help experts increase the size of tissue samples effortlessly. By doing this the researchers are left with high resolution images. The new technique is called xpansion Microscopy Interestingly, it uses the same technology that makes diapers extremely absorbent. The researchers added that the new method is not only inexpensive but relatively simple and uses chemicals that are commonly available. Ed Boyden, an associate professor of biological engineering and brain and cognitive sciences at MIT, and the lead author of the study, said, nstead of acquiring a new microscope to take images with nanoscale resolution, you can take the images on a regular microscope. You physically make the sample bigger, rather than trying to magnify the rays of light that are emitted by the sample. The researchers used a substance called sodium polyacrylate. This substance is packed also in babiesdiapers because of its highly absorbent nature. Using this substance the researchers were able make the brain specimens grow bigger. They painted the specimens with fluorescent dye. After that, they soaked them in sodium polyacrylate. They found that the samples expanded, carrying the dye with them. Due to expansion the original molecules were destroyed. However, the dye left behind a detailed replica of the sample, which was five times larger than the original. Researchers believe that this technique will allow them to study tiny brain samples, without needing powerful and expensive microscopes. However, the researchers are done not yet. They want to find more substances that can expand the specimens even more. ne thing we want to do is figure out how to expand the polymers even more. Another priority for us is to build stronger polymers, or find a way of reinforcing them in the expanded state, and wee now screening lots of chemicals to find ones that retain their strength after expansion, added Boyden. The findings were published in the Science journal e

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