Can You Hear Your Cells Singing? UCLA Professor Tracks The Song of A Single Cell's Vibrations For Radio Listeners

Contemporary science in the past three decades has made drastic advancements. From splitting a single atom to sequencing genomes around the world, the line that once delineated reality from science fiction is evermore blurred.

In 2006 Harvard University, in collaboration with scientific animation company XVivo, created an eight-minute 3-dimensional rendering of what the inner workings of a cell look like at a microscopic level. Culminating centuries of research, the animation was set to classical orchestral music that exemplified the symphonic and harmonious nature of a simple cell and all of its intricately orchestrated components.

(Photo : Harvard University)

But what are the limits we face now? Could we possibly hear the orchestral "singing" of a single cell? UCLA Professor of Chemistry James K. Gimzewski blends an interest in the arts and nanotechnology to let us hear the dynamic conversations of yeast cells.

Interviewed last Mon. July 28, on UCLA's radio program entitled "Pulse of the Planet", Gimzewski brought the sounds of cells to life as radio listeners were given the opportunity to listen to the harmonic humming of "molecular motors" passing along the inside of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae (also known as a Baker's yeast) cell.

"Like passing freight trains that shake the walls of nearby houses, cargo-carrying proteins shake the cell walls of yeast" Gimzewski said in the abstract to his nanomechanical research on the Baker's yeast. "The protein freight carriers, also called 'molecular motors', cause the wall vibrations as they transport everything from bits of protein to whole chromosomes throughout the cell."

(Photo : James K Gimzewski)

Translating the vibrations created by the passing proteins into sounds that a human-size yeast cell would make, Gimzewski created a way for observers to notice the fleeting movements that are far too small and fast to be captured on video.

"The device we use to detect the sound of the cells and the motion of the cells is called an atomic force microscope, but it's not a microscope. It's actually a sharp tip that we put on top of the cell and we pick up the motion a bit like you would pick up the motion in a gramophone" Gimzewski says. " We hear the sounds of a cell just in the way a rock band, you know, makes sounds for the audience."

(Photo : James K Gimzewski)

Investigating the cause of the cell vibrations and the role of energy-producing mitochondria in the process, Gimzewski noted that the cell vibrations stopped with ceasing energy production and believes the music we hear from the cell is the intricate activity of many molecular motors working in unison within the cell.