In order to treat severe burn wounds, the progress of healing needs to be monitored regularly. This is usually done by measuring collagen levels using biochemical or histopathological methods. Now, researchers from the Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Manipal, have come up with a way to assess burn wound healing by using a minimally-invasive laser-based method to optically measure collagen.

Physical forces play a major role in how the cells in our brain grow and signal to each other. In a recent study, scientists from the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune, Raman Research Institute (RRI), Bangalore, and University of Hyderabad developed a simple assay to show that neurons are shaped by attachment to the substrate underneath them.