VISUALISATION OF EXOCYTOSIS OF INSULIN-CONTAINING SECRETORY VESICLES IN PANCREATIC ß-CELLS USING TIRFM

One of life science's primary challenges is to understand and define the role of a number of proteins in cellular processes associated with health and disease of living organisms. Understanding this vast array of diverse biochemical processes of the living cell is paramount to not only gaining an insight into the living organism as a whole, but also discovering when and why these cellular processes break down, thus causing disease. Whilst innovative and specialised techniques have been instrumental for many advances in molecular biology, many questions concerning the structure and function of cells can only be answered by observing living cells. Live-cell imaging offers the power of capturing the dynamics of biological action in live cells and in real-time, something not previously available with biochemical approaches.