Did you ever think of jellyfish or a salamander as fluorescent?

That is actually the case. Both animals have proteins in their bodies that enables them to light up.

Researchers from the University of Copenhagen now invented a way to use these fluorescent proteins to gain new knowledge about brain diseases like depression, Alzheimer’s, and strokes.

“We developed a new method to visualize the blood flow in the brain in experimental mice for months,” says professor at the Center for Translational Neuromedicine at the University of Copenhagen, Hajime Hirase. He is one of the researchers behind the new method.

Before the newly developed method, the researchers used chemical dyes instead. That dye only made it possible to observe the blood flow in the brain for a few hours at a time.

Marie Curie fellow Antonis Asiminas who also worked on the method adds that the method brings brand new possibilities to track disease progression over time.

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