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Molecular Spectroscopy Tracks Living Mammalian Cells in Real Time as They Differentiate - Cells regulate their functions by adding or subtracting phosphates from proteins. If scientists could study the process in detail, in individual cells over time, understanding and treating diseases would be greatly aided. Formerly this was impossible without damaging the cells or interfering with the process itself, but at Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory scientists have achieved the goal by using the Advanced Light Source's bright infrared beams and a technique called Fourier transform spectromicroscopy. Reference: “Synchrotron infrared measurements of protein phosphorylation in living single PC12 cells during neuronal differentiation,” L. Chen et al, Analytical Chemistry, online http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ac300308x