
{"id":3680,"date":"2020-10-06T05:43:26","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T05:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability\/"},"modified":"2025-01-15T06:26:23","modified_gmt":"2025-01-15T06:26:23","slug":"lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability","title":{"rendered":"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Conducting studies <em>in vitro<\/em> &#8211;\u00a0a Latin term that literally means \u201cin the glass\u201d\u2014is essential in the fields of medicine and biology. Working with <i>in vitro<\/i> cultures is a relatively cost-effective and easily repeatable way of gaining insight into the interactions between cells or microorganisms and specific chemical compounds, such as drugs, nutrients, and toxins. However, to properly assess the toxicity of a compound, a reliable and efficient way to distinguish live cells from cells killed due to toxicity is necessary. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Researchers have elucidated several methods to tell live and dead cells apart, and one popular approach is the \u201cdye exclusion test (DET)\u201d using synthetic dyes. In conventional DET, a dye such as trypan blue or methylene blue selectively permeates and stains dead cells, distinguishing them from live cells. This seems simple enough, but these synthetic dyes have been known to damage living cells in the culture as well. This renders them unusable for long-term studies with a single culture. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Fortunately, as is described in their study published in <span class=\"MsoHyperlink\" style=\"color:blue\"><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\"><i><a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3390\/biology9080227\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">MDPI Biology<\/a><\/i><\/span><\/span><span class=\"MsoHyperlink\" style=\"color:blue\"><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\"><span style=\"text-decoration:none\"><span style=\"text-underline:none\">, a team of <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span>scientists from the Tokyo University of Science, Japan<\/span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">\u2014comprising Assistant Professor Ryoma Tagawa, Professor Yoshikazu Higami, Professor Eiji Tokunaga, and Assistant Professor Kyohei Yamashita\u2014recently discovered an alternative to DET with synthetic dyes: DET using a natural pigment made from <em>Monascus purpureus<\/em> (MP), a mold species traditionally used in Asia for the production of fermented foods. According to Dr Yamashita, lead author of this and two other studies on MP, its discovery as a tool for distinguishing dead cells was a case of serendipity. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Dr Yamashita and a colleague were working alongside Dr Koji Yamada and Dr Kengo Suzuki from <a href=\"https:\/\/www.euglena.jp\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">euglena Co., Ltd<\/a>. to find effective ways of culturing <em>Euglena gracilis<\/em>,\u00a0a type of single-cell algae, in foods, when they stumbled upon the usefulness of MP and another natural dye called anthocyanin pigment for studying cell health over time. The results of their study are <a href=\"http:\/\/doi.org\/10.7717\/peerj.6636\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">published in <i>PeerJ<\/i><\/a> in the world\u2019s first report on the application of natural food pigments in cell viability assays. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Dr Yamashita then went on to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41598-020-67712-0\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">lead another study<\/a> demonstrating the applicability of MP in DET for another single-cell organism species with a vastly different structure, <i>Paramecium<\/i>. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">In their most recent study, the one published in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mdpi.com\/2079-7737\/9\/8\/227\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\"><i>MDPI Biology<\/i><\/a>, Dr Yamashita and colleagues proved that MP can be used to ascertain the viability of breast cancer cells. They found that, unlike trypan blue, MP does not damage living cells and is robust against a typical chemotherapy drug cisplatin. Moreover, MP took only ten minutes to stain dead cells and costs a tenth of what trypan blue does. Considering all this, Dr Yamashita remarks: \u201c<i>The proposed natural pigment enables the long-term monitoring of the life and death of cells, which may bring about improvements in the efficiency of biomass production, basic research on metabolic mechanisms, and applied research in fields such as breeding.<\/i>\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">In addition to its use as a reagent to monitor the life and death of cells, Dr Yamashita notes that the pigment is also nutritious to living cells and has antioxidative characteristics, which is useful for boosting culture efficiency and performing quality control in the food industry, where safe fermentation is critical. It is also safe to humans and the environment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">This applicability of MP to completely different kinds of cells<\/span><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">\u2014breast cancer, <em>Euglena<\/em>, and <em>Paramecium<\/em>\u2014has made Dr Yamashita very optimistic about its potential. He states: \u201c<i>Our natural pigment could be the tool that opens up new research fields involving the determination of the causes behind the death of cells. Moreover, natural pigments are highly likely to have useful properties that have not yet been found, and there is much room for exploration.<\/i>\u201d <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">There is certainly a bright and <i>colorful<\/i> future ahead for this promising natural dye! <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><b><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Reference<\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Titles of original papers: <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">1. Noninvasive and Safe Cell Viability Assay for Breast Cancer MCF-7 Cells Using Natural Food Pigment<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">2.<\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Noninvasive and safe cell viability assay for <i>Euglena gracilis<\/i> using natural food pigment<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">3. Noninvasive and safe cell viability assay for <i>Paramecium<\/i> using natural pigment extracted from food<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Journal:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">1. <i>MDPI Biology<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">2. <i>PeerJ<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">3. <i>Nature Research<\/i><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">DOI:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">1. 10.3390\/biology9080227<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">2. 10.7717\/peerj.6636<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">3. 10.1038\/s41598-020-67712-0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Authors:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">1.<\/span><\/span> <span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Kyohei Yamashita (a), Ryoma Tagawa (b), Yoshikazu Higami (b) and Eiji Tokunaga (a)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">2. Kyohei Yamashita (a), Koji Yamada (c), Kengo Suzuki (c) and Eiji Tokunaga (a)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">3. Kyohei Yamashita (a) &amp; Eiji Tokunaga (a)<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Affiliations:\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">(a) Department of Physics, Faculty of Science, Tokyo University of Science<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">(b) Laboratory of Molecular Pathology and Metabolic Disease, Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Tokyo University of Science<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"tab-stops:117.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">(c) euglena Co., Ltd<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Default\" style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"Default\" style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\"><span style=\"color:black\"><b>About <\/b><b>The Tokyo University of Science<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Tokyo University of Science (TUS) is a well-known and respected university, and the largest science-specialized private research university in Japan, with four campuses in central Tokyo and its suburbs and in Hokkaido. Established in 1881, the university has continually contributed to Japan&#8217;s development in science through inculcating the love for science in researchers, technicians, and educators. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\">\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">With a mission of \u201cCreating science and technology for the harmonious development of nature, human beings, and society&#8221;, TUS has undertaken a wide range of research from basic to applied science. TUS has embraced a multidisciplinary approach to research and undertaken intensive study in some of today&#8217;s most vital fields. TUS is a meritocracy where the best in science is recognized and nurtured. It is the only private university in Japan that has produced a Nobel Prize winner and the only private university in Asia to produce Nobel Prize winners within the natural sciences field. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Website: <span class=\"MsoHyperlink\" style=\"color:blue\"><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.tus.ac.jp\/en\/mediarelations\/\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">https:\/\/www.tus.ac.jp\/en\/mediarelations\/<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\"><span style=\"color:black\"><b>About Dr Kyohei Yamashita from Tokyo University of Science<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Default\" style=\"text-align:justify; margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"text-justify:inter-ideograph\"><span style=\"font-family:Calibri,sans-serif\"><span style=\"color:black\">Dr Kyohei Yamashita is currently Assistant Professor at the Department of Physics, Tokyo University of Science, Japan. Since his time doing a PhD, his research interests have largely revolved around applying basic methodologies of bioscience to food processing technologies. Upon his discovery, early on in his career, of a revolutionary natural pigment extracted from <i>Monascus purpureus<\/i>, his research has become interdisciplinary, relevant to a number of medical and life sciences fields. He has several publications on this natural pigment.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"Default\" style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\">\u00a0<\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><b><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Media contact <\/span><\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Tsutomu Shimizu <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"margin:0in 0in 0.0001pt\"><span style=\"font-size:12pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Times New Roman&quot;,serif\"><span style=\"font-size:11.0pt\"><span style=\"font-family:&quot;Calibri&quot;,sans-serif\">Email: <span class=\"MsoHyperlink\" style=\"color:blue\"><span style=\"text-decoration:underline\"><a href=\"mailto:mediaoffice@admin.tus.ac.jp\" style=\"color:blue; text-decoration:underline\">mediaoffice@admin.tus.ac.jp<\/a><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Conducting studies in vitro &#8211;\u00a0a Latin term that literally means \u201cin the glass\u201d\u2014is essential in the fields of medicine and biology. Working with in vitro cultures is a relatively cost-effective and easily repeatable way of gaining insight into the interactions between cells or microorganisms and specific chemical compounds, such as drugs, nutrients, and toxins. However, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1152,"featured_media":33313,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2435],"tags":[2482],"new_categories":[],"new_tags":[],"series":[],"class_list":["post-3680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-trending-research","tag-science-update"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.0 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability | Editage Insights<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A novel natural dye for screening cell viability discovered by researchers at Tokyo University of Science\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability | Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A novel natural dye for screening cell viability discovered by researchers at Tokyo University of Science\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Editage Insights\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2020-10-06T05:43:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-01-15T06:26:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/456.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"656\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"336\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Impact Science\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Editage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Editage\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Impact Science\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Impact Science\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/cbcaf87b3854025dbc992cc0df30714d\"},\"headline\":\"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-06T05:43:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-15T06:26:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability\"},\"wordCount\":1032,\"commentCount\":0,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"keywords\":[\"Science Update\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Trending Research\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability\",\"name\":\"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability | Editage Insights\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2020-10-06T05:43:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-01-15T06:26:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"A novel natural dye for screening cell viability discovered by researchers at Tokyo University of Science\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp\",\"width\":656,\"height\":336},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\",\"name\":\"Editage Insights\",\"description\":\"\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Editage Insights\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp\",\"width\":2560,\"height\":324,\"caption\":\"Editage Insights\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/Editage\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/cbcaf87b3854025dbc992cc0df30714d\",\"name\":\"Impact Science\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b2b71ce8a6c1056a3435be210d1bd34462c1c442ee7ce9c426896ad8ccd0763?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b2b71ce8a6c1056a3435be210d1bd34462c1c442ee7ce9c426896ad8ccd0763?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Impact Science\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/editage-research-communication\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability | Editage Insights","description":"A novel natural dye for screening cell viability discovered by researchers at Tokyo University of Science","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability | Editage Insights","og_description":"A novel natural dye for screening cell viability discovered by researchers at Tokyo University of Science","og_url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability","og_site_name":"Editage Insights","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage","article_published_time":"2020-10-06T05:43:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-01-15T06:26:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":656,"height":336,"url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/456.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Impact Science","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Editage","twitter_site":"@Editage","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Impact Science","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability"},"author":{"name":"Impact Science","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/cbcaf87b3854025dbc992cc0df30714d"},"headline":"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability","datePublished":"2020-10-06T05:43:26+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-15T06:26:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability"},"wordCount":1032,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","keywords":["Science Update"],"articleSection":["Trending Research"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability","name":"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability | Editage Insights","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","datePublished":"2020-10-06T05:43:26+00:00","dateModified":"2025-01-15T06:26:23+00:00","description":"A novel natural dye for screening cell viability discovered by researchers at Tokyo University of Science","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/02\/editage-insights-generic-banner_298.webp","width":656,"height":336},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/lending-color-to-dead-cells-a-novel-natural-dye-for-screening-cell-viability#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Lending color to dead cells\u2014A novel natural dye for screening cell viability"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/","name":"Editage Insights","description":"","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#organization","name":"Editage Insights","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/editage-insights-logo-1-scaled.webp","width":2560,"height":324,"caption":"Editage Insights"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Editage","https:\/\/x.com\/Editage"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/cbcaf87b3854025dbc992cc0df30714d","name":"Impact Science","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b2b71ce8a6c1056a3435be210d1bd34462c1c442ee7ce9c426896ad8ccd0763?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/6b2b71ce8a6c1056a3435be210d1bd34462c1c442ee7ce9c426896ad8ccd0763?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Impact Science"},"url":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/editage-research-communication"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1152"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33313"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3680"},{"taxonomy":"new_categories","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_categories?post=3680"},{"taxonomy":"new_tags","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/new_tags?post=3680"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.editage.com\/insights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=3680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}