Assistance Lect. Ahmed Kareem Sameer

Department of General Sciences

College of Basic Education / Haditha - University of Anbar

The world's first biological laser was developed by Yun and Gather of Harvard Medical School.

Using a live biomaterial (a single human cell and some jellyfish protein). The researchers used cells derived from a human kidney as well as encoded DNA and enhanced green fluorescent protein (GFP), the substance that makes jellyfish bioluminescent, which is widely used in cell biology. .

The researchers engineered human embryonic kidney cells to produce GFP, placing one cell between two mirrors one cell wide apart between them to create a light cavity only 20 micrometers wide. With the naked eye - the cell was not damaged. The resulting light has a unique emission spectrum related to both the structure of the cell and the proteins contained within it, the researchers said. "By analyzing the pattern, you can get an idea of ??what's going on inside the cell," Yun says.

The width of the laser beam is "negligible" and "fairly poor" in brightness compared to conventional lasers, Yoon says, but it is "an order of magnitude" brighter than that of a normal jellyfish, with a "beautiful green" color.

Biological lasers could one day help optical communications shift from inanimate electronic devices to biotechnology. This would facilitate the development of direct human-machine interfaces, where neurons in the brain signal their action with a flash of laser light, to be picked up by an external device. for example. Using a biolaser, cells can continually make new GFP. Thus we may be able to make lasers self-healing.

The researchers also suggest potential medical applications. Where doctors today shine a laser into the body to collect images or to treat disease by attacking cells. Yoon believes that the laser can instead be produced or amplified inside the body, where it can penetrate the relevant tissues more deeply.

But more work is needed first -- including developing the laser to work inside a real living organism. To achieve this, Yun envisions incorporating a nanoscale photocavity into the laser cell itself. He says technologies for making such cavities are emerging, and once they are available they can be used to create a cell that can "auto laser" from within tissue.

Experts say using this technology may be more feasible in studying individual cells than it is for medical applications. He points out that external light is necessary to stimulate the laser's action, which would be difficult in the body, and the technique is likely to be limited to thin tissue systems only.