​Purifying specific protein molecules from complex mixtures will become easier with a simpler way to detect a molecular "tag" commonly used as a handle to grab the proteins.

Proteins, comprising many linked amino acid molecules, form the key "workforce" of molecular biology, performing a multitude of chemical tasks, including catalyzing the chemistry of life, switching genes on and off, and receiving and responding to signals between cells.

Researchers need to produce and purify selected proteins to investigate their activities for drug research, biotechnology and basic investigations of cell biology.

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Image: The conjugated fluorophore is efficiently excited by widely available UV radiation sources.
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