Rapid analysis of DNA damage now possible
Our DNA is under constant attack from many sources: Radiation, ultraviolet light, and contaminants in our food and in our environment can all wreak havoc on our genetic material, potentially leading to cancer and other diseases. Analyzing DNA damage is critical to understanding those diseases, as well as seeking new treatments, but current tools for detecting DNA damage make for tedious and time-consuming work.Now a team of MIT bioengineers has devised a new way to rapidly reveal DNA damage under a variety of conditions, promising to make such analysis a routine aspect of applications such as drug screening and epidemiological studies of the effects of environmental agents.The new technique is based on a 30-year-old test known as the “comet assay” — named for the comet-shaped smear that the damaged DNA forms during the test. However, the new technology can analyze a much greater number of cells, at a much faster...