The new sensor lets researchers watch DNA damage and repair as it happens in living cells and organisms, making studies on aging, cancer, and drug effects possible.
Biomedical researchers around the world want to evaluate new drugs, understand diseases and track how cells respond to stress. But it is hard to watch DNA damage and repair as they happen inside a living cell. Most existing tools freeze cells at different moments, producing still images instead of real time activity. How to clear this roadblock?
A new fluorescent sensor developed at Utrecht University removes this barrier. It lets researchers watch DNA damage appear and disappear in real time, inside living cells and whole organisms, without disturbing cell processes. For anyone studying how cells age, how cancer forms, or how medicines affect DNA, this makes many earlier experiments workable.
The core problem with earlier tools is interference. Antibodies and nanobodies bind strongly to damaged DNA, blocking repair proteins, altering repair timing and distorting results. The new sensor avoids this by using a small piece of a natural protein in cells. It attaches briefly to damaged DNA, creates a fluorescent signal and releases, leaving repair steps untouched. Early tests showed it lights up the same regions as commercial antibodies but without disruption, giving a clearer view of repair in real time. This shift from static snapshots to continuous observation lets researchers record one full video, showing when damage forms, how repair proteins gather and when repair ends. Tests in the nematode C elegans confirmed the tool works beyond cultured cells, and paired with other molecular tools, it can map damage in the genome, track protein responses and study DNA movement inside the nucleus.
For applied fields such as cancer drug development, the value is clear. Many cancer treatments damage DNA in tumor cells, and early testing needs precise measurement, while antibody based methods can be costly and inconsistent. The sensor provides a faster, cheaper way to measure drug effects without altering cell biology. It can also detect radiation exposure, monitor mutagenic chemicals and support studies of how cells age. For research labs, drug developers and toxicology teams that need to see DNA repair in action, this tool makes that possible.
