Researchers at Kanazawa University report in Communications Biology that using common chemicals for fixing living cell samples for microscopy studies causes membrane proteins to aggregate. For histological investigations of biological tissues, i.e. anatomical studies under the microscope, samples are usually fixated to prevent them from decaying. Fixation is typically done by immersing or perfusing the sample in a chemical — aldehydes and alcohols are common fixatives. It has been speculated that membrane proteins moving to some extent...