by KYW’s Jim Melwert

University of Pennsylvania researchers are sharing in a $2 million grant to help develop tools to study proteins in living cells.

Penn chemistry professor Barry Cooperman says the technology they're studying would allow them to get a real-time look at protein molecules at work in cells:

"Right now, to find out how proteins are affected, you have to basically kill the cell and do an extensive chemical analysis of the cell."

Cooperman is working with fellow Penn professor Yale Goldman and Anima Cell Metrology Incorporated.

He says you could compare current technology to looking at a snapshot, while this technology would be sort of like watching a videotape.

It could be used to study patients' reactions to drugs.

The technology is called Protein Synthesis Monitoring. The grant is worth about $2 million over three years.