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Seeing is Believing: New Probes Reveal Proteins Inside Living Cells with Unprecedented Clarity

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Developed by Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, Multicolor Imaging Technology Lets Researchers Track Proteins and Cellular Activity with Exceptional Precision and Minimal Background

BRONX, N.Y., April 22, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — Fluorescent probes have transformed modern biology by allowing researchers to tag and visualize individual molecules in living cells, tissues, and animals. Using these tools, researchers can watch viruses infect cells in real time, observe cellular trash collection, and track the signaling that spurs tumor growth. Now, scientists at Albert Einstein College of Medicine and the Salk Institute for Biological Studies have developed a new molecular imaging technology that illuminates proteins inside living cells and animals far more clearly than before. Described in today’s issue of Nature Methods, the system uses engineered fluorescent nanobodies—tiny antibody-like protein fragments—that light up only when they bind to their specific targets.

“The key advantage of our approach is that the signal appears only where the target protein is present,” said Vladislav Verkhusha, Ph.D., a co-corresponding author on the study and professor of genetics and co-director of the Gruss-Lipper Biophotonics Center at Einstein. “That eliminates the background glow that has long limited the precision of intracellular imaging.” The study’s other co-corresponding author is Axel Nimmerjahn, Ph.D., professor at Salk.

Solving a Key Imaging Problem
Over the past decade, fluorescent nanobodies have emerged as powerful tools because they bind to specific proteins in living cells. However, conventional versions glow whether or not they are attached to their targets, producing diffuse background signals that obscure fine details.

To overcome this limitation, the researchers engineered a new class of probes called VIS-Fbs (visible-spectrum target-stabilizable fluorescent nanobodies). These probes rapidly degrade if they do not bind to their intended target; only when bound do they become stable and brightly fluorescent. This “on-demand” fluorescence reduces background noise by as much as 100-fold, enabling much sharper visualization of protein location and dynamics.

The researchers created versions of their VIS-Fb probes that fluoresce across nearly the entire visible spectrum, from blue to far red, making it possible to track multiple proteins or cellular processes within the same living cell at once.

A Versatile Platform
Rather than create a single probe, Dr. Verkhusha and colleagues developed a modular engineering platform for building VIS-Fb probes that can be adapted to many targets and experimental needs. By integrating more than 20 different fluorescent proteins and biosensors into multiple nanobody scaffolds, they created a flexible toolkit with multiple capabilities.

With this approach, multiple proteins can be tracked simultaneously in different cellular compartments using VIS-Fb probes that emit distinct colors, enabling true multicolor imaging within the same cell. Certain VIS-Fb variants can also be activated, or switched on and off, with light, making it possible to follow protein behavior over time with high spatial and temporal precision. Incorporating biosensors for ions and metabolites further allows the probes to report not only where proteins are located but also what they are doing in real time, providing direct insight into cellular activity. In addition, combining stable reference signals with activity-sensitive fluorescence enables ratiometric measurements that improve the accuracy of quantifying cellular processes, even in complex environments such as living brain tissue.

“The VIS-Fb approach allows us to identify and track specific cell populations in living organisms based on the proteins they express, rather than just their location,” said Natalia Barykina, Ph.D., the first author of the study and a postdoctoral fellow in Dr. Verkhusha’s lab.

The researchers demonstrated the system in a range of living models. In mice, VIS-Fb probes enabled precise imaging of central nervous system activity in neurons and astrocytes, with strong signal quality during behavior. In zebrafish embryos, the technology allowed real-time tracking of dynamic changes during early development and in response to drugs that alter signaling pathways.

“Our results show that this imaging platform offers a much clearer and more precise view of how proteins behave inside living systems,” Dr. Verkhusha said. “It opens the door to studying complex biological processes, such as cell signaling, development, and disease progression, in new ways.”

Additional Einstein authors include Juliana Mendoça-Gomes, Ph.D. and Sofia de Oliveira, Ph.D. Additional authors are Erin Carey, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and Olena Oliinyk, Ph.D., University of Helsinki, Finland.

The title of the paper is “Synthetic multicolor antigen-stabilizable nanobody platform for intersectional labelling and functional imaging.” Funding sources include the National Institutes of Health: GM122567 (V.V.), NS123719 (A.N.), and GM118027 (S.dO); the Jane and Aatos Erkko Foundation (220011); the Research Council of Finland (360277); the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Foundation (MET-000000045); the NOMIS Foundation Neuroimmunology Initiative; and the Edwards-Yeckel Research Foundation.

About Albert Einstein College of Medicine
Albert Einstein College of Medicine is one of the nation’s premier academic centers for basic science research, clinical investigation, and biomedical education. Located in the Bronx, Einstein is home to nearly 1,000 M.D., Ph.D., and M.D./Ph.D. students and more than 2,000 full-time faculty members. Einstein receives approximately $200M in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) each year and houses six NIH-funded research centers, in cancer, intellectual and developmental disabilities, clinical and translational research, AIDS, and two in diabetes. In partnership with Montefiore Health System, Einstein advances clinical and translational research to accelerate the pace at which new discoveries become the treatments that benefit patients. For more information, please visit einsteinmed.edu, and follow us on InstagramLinkedIn, TwitterFacebook, and view us on YouTube

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The World Is Taking Notice: TIME Recognition Fuels VinFast’s Global Journey

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On a rainy Tuesday morning in Paris, a driver waiting at a red light on Boulevard Haussmann might not immediately place the badge on the SUV beside them. Thousands of miles away, a driver in California might have a similar moment seeing the same badge on an American road. It is not German, nor one of the familiar Asian names that have become common across established automotive markets. It belongs to VinFast ,  a Vietnamese automotive brand that is steadily making its presence felt across Europe and North America, and whose global journey reflects a much larger story unfolding inside its parent group, Vingroup.

PARIS , Sept. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — That journey reached a new milestone this year. Vingroup has been ranked 340th in TIME’s World’s Best Companies 2026, produced jointly with the research firm Statista, placing it among the world’s top 350 businesses and marking a rise of nearly 500 places from the previous year. It is the only Vietnamese company to appear on the list for two consecutive years.

A Ranking Built on More Than Growth

TIME and Statista do not rank companies on size alone. Their methodology weighs three dimensions: revenue growth, employee satisfaction and sustainability transparency. Vingroup earned an overall score of 81 out of 100, rising from 817th to 340th worldwide.

The revenue figures behind that score are substantial. In the first half of 2026, Vingroup posted consolidated net revenue of VND 222.9 trillion, up 72 percent year on year, with profit after tax reaching VND 20.904 trillion, more than four and a half times the figure recorded over the same period in 2025. That growth was driven largely by the Group’s industrial manufacturing and real estate businesses, earning Vingroup an “Outstanding” rating on the revenue metric.

Employee satisfaction told a similar story of momentum. Vingroup climbed to 398th globally, up 496 places, in a workforce that now spans roughly 400,000 people across 12 countries.

On sustainability, the Group’s contribution came through a different kind of infrastructure – green transition projects, urban development, and long-term investment in the systems that sustain a livable city rather than a single quarter’s balance sheet. Vinhomes, the Group’s real estate arm, has extended this thinking through its ESG++ model, adding Regeneration and Resilience to the conventional three pillars of Environmental, Social and Governance work, applied across urban developments spanning thousands of hectares.

Two new business lines added to that picture in 2025: infrastructure, through VinSpeed’s high-speed rail projects connecting Ho Chi Minh City to Can Gio and Hanoi to Quang Ninh, and green energy, through VinEnergo’s projects across multiple provinces. Together, they represent an attempt to build not just individual businesses, but the connective tissue – rail, power and mobility – that a modern, low-carbon economy runs on.

Making the EV Transition More Accessible

Within that broader ecosystem, VinFast represents one of the clearest expressions of Vingroup’s global aspirations. The company’s expansion across Asia, North America and Europe is bringing the Group’s vision for a greener future to an increasingly international audience, while putting a Vietnamese automotive brand directly into competition in some of the world’s most established markets.

For customers considering a new automotive brand, however, global vision is only the starting point. The more important question is whether a new entrant can earn the trust required to become part of everyday life.

Research from the McKinsey Center for Future Mobility offers a useful, if counterintuitive, perspective. Surveying thousands of European car buyers, McKinsey found that Europeans open to considering an Asian market entrant show an overall 53 percent likelihood of switching to a new brand when they move to an electric vehicle – a figure that rises as high as 63 percent in the United Kingdom. Brand loyalty, in other words, is proving more fluid in the EV era than it was in the age of the internal combustion engine.

That shift creates an opening for new EV brands. But winning customers requires more than a competitive vehicle. It requires making electric mobility accessible while building the sales, service and ownership infrastructure that gives customers confidence throughout the ownership journey.

With an increasingly diverse and accessible product portfolio, VinFast remains committed to its mission of making electric vehicles more accessible to everyone and enabling customers to transition to green mobility with greater ease and confidence.

In Europe, the company is expanding its presence with products designed around local priorities of efficiency, design and accessibility, including the VF 6 and VF 8, while electric buses such as the EB 8 and the fully European-certified EB 12 further extend its contribution to the region’s transition toward greener transportation.

Across North America, the same vision is being supported by the expansion of VinFast’s sales and service network and the development of its Certified Pre-Owned (CPO) program. Together, these initiatives are designed to build a more comprehensive ecosystem around the customer, extending beyond the vehicle itself to the services and support that shape the ownership experience.

Vingroup was the first Vietnamese company to qualify for TIME’s World’s Best Companies list in 2025, while VinFast has earned recognition among TIME100 Most Influential Companies and Asia-Pacific’s Best Companies of 2025. These milestones reflect growing international recognition of Vingroup’s and VinFast’s aspirations, capabilities and expanding global reach.

The latest TIME recognition for Vingroup therefore arrives at a moment when that global reach is becoming increasingly visible. For VinFast, the challenge and opportunity now extend across multiple continents ,  from European cities where a new badge is gradually becoming familiar, to North American roads where the company is building its presence and customer ecosystem. 

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XLCS Partners advises CID Capital on its investment in Kaiser Garage Doors & Gates

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NASHVILLE, Tenn., Sept. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — XLCS Partners, Inc., a leading middle market investment bank, is pleased to announce it served as advisor to CID Capital on its investment in Kaiser Garage Doors & Gates, LLC (Kaiser).

Headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, Kaiser is a leading installer and servicer of residential and commercial overhead doors and gates serving the Phoenix, Tucson, and White Mountains markets. With over 30 years of proven operations, the company has established a strong regional footprint, a reputation for quality and reliability, and long-standing customer relationships.

Based in Indianapolis, Indiana, CID Capital is a private equity firm with decades of experience partnering with high-quality, lower middle market companies. CID makes control investments in companies with a proven track record of success and works alongside management teams to provide strategic guidance, resources, and capital for the next phase of growth, combining a focus on founder- and family-owned companies with a collaborative approach to building long-term value.

Kaiser is the third platform investment made from CID’s latest fund, CID Capital Opportunity Fund IV, L.P. In conjunction with the closing, industry veteran Eric Farley stepped in as CEO to lead the business under CID’s ownership, partnering with Dean Bennett, COO, and the existing Kaiser team.

XLCS acted as buyside advisor to CID Capital in connection with its investment in Kaiser, which was completed on August 14, 2026. The engagement was supported by Jay Cremer, Vice President, and David Silva, Senior Associate.

About XLCS Partners, Inc.
XLCS Partners is a leading global investment banking firm providing M&A advisory services. Visit www.xlcspartners.com for more information.

Media Contact: 
Kendra Span
kspan@xlcspartners.com
615-379-7783

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PlanetiQ Selected for NOAA’s Space-Based Environmental Monitoring IDIQ

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Selection builds on PlanetiQ’s long-standing relationship with NOAA and adds thermospheric neutral density to its environmental data offerings

GOLDEN, Colo., Sept. 11, 2026 /PRNewswire/ — PlanetiQ, a leading provider of commercial satellite-based environmental data, today announced that it has been selected as an industry partner under NOAA’s new Space-Based Environmental Monitoring (SBEM) Indefinite Delivery, Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract. Through the SBEM IDIQ, PlanetiQ will be eligible to compete for task orders to provide NOAA with two types of commercial environmental data: Global Navigation Satellite System-Radio Occultation (GNSS-RO) observations for atmospheric profiling and ionospheric monitoring, and thermospheric neutral density data for satellite orbit prediction.

“This selection builds on our long-standing partnership with NOAA and expands the ways our data can support the agency, from high-resolution atmospheric and ionospheric observations to thermospheric neutral density for satellite orbit prediction,” said Ira Scharf, CEO of PlanetiQ.  

The SBEM IDIQ, established by NOAA’s National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) through its Commercial Data Program. The contract has a five-year base period followed by a five-year option and is effective from September 1, 2026, through August 31, 2036.

Under SBEM, PlanetiQ will provide data from its existing satellite constellation as well as additional satellites planned for launch later this year. The company’s GNSS-RO observations provide high-resolution atmospheric profiles for numerical weather prediction and measurements of the ionosphere, including Total Electron Content (TEC) and scintillation. PlanetiQ will also introduce thermospheric neutral density data as a new commercial data product for NOAA NESDIS, supporting improved satellite orbit prediction and space-weather applications.

“PlanetiQ has built its business around delivering high-quality GNSS-RO data with the precision needed to improve weather forecasting,” said Ira Scharf, CEO of PlanetiQ. “This selection builds on our long-standing partnership with NOAA and expands the ways our data can support the agency, from high-resolution atmospheric and ionospheric observations to thermospheric neutral density for satellite orbit prediction. We look forward to continuing to work with NOAA to advance weather forecasting and space weather applications.”

Per NOAA’s own press release, NOAA is expanding its procurement and use of new commercial environmental satellite data streams that will enhance weather forecasting and space weather monitoring. The SBEM IDIQ contract is a key part in the agency’s ongoing effort to boost U.S. weather forecasting capabilities.

PlanetiQ currently provides GNSS-RO data to NOAA NESDIS under the agency’s previous commercial data contract vehicle. The company’s most recent task order, announced in August, provides GNSS-RO and ionospheric data and bridges the transition to the new SBEM contract.

About PlanetiQ

PlanetiQ provides the highest-quality GNSS radio occultation (RO) data available from a commercial constellation of satellites, offering unmatched temporal and spatial resolution. The data drive accurate, high-impact weather and climate forecast models, helping improve Numerical Weather Prediction and AI forecasts, safeguard lives and property from severe weather. In 2025, PlanetiQ was awarded NOAA’s largest-ever contract for satellite weather data, valued at $24.3 million. PlanetiQ is a space-tech company that serves the most mission-critical government, defense, and industry leaders, including international weather agencies, enabling more resilient operations across sectors. Founded in 2015 and privately owned, PlanetiQ designs, builds, and operates the preeminent commercial constellation of GNSS-RO satellites, setting the standard for precision and reliability in atmospheric monitoring. For more information, contact info@planetiq.com

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