Yet Another MIT Miracle: Weighing Single Cells

MIT is constantly churning out amazing technologies, and this new cell-weighing technique is no less awesome. The latest method consists of placing single cells on a silicone cantilever. The cantilever is allowed to vibrate at its resonant frequency, and the change in frequency determines the mass of the cell.
The only drawback is that the cell has to be dead for the old technique, but the new one allows the cells to be measured suspended in a fluid. In addition, multiple cells can be weighed in a stream much like cells are counted today in flow cytometry. The hope is that this technology will be used for AIDS research and better measurements in nanoparticle-containing products. Or you could just see how fat your cells really are.
Read about the technique here…