LOS ANGELES, March 21, 2007 -- Billions of fluorescent microscale particles in the shapes of all 26 letters of the alphabet have been designed and produced in the lab. The letters are made of solid polymeric materials dispersed in a liquid solution, and the scientists who created them anticipate that their "lithoparticles" will have significant technological, medical and scientific uses.

"We have demonstrated the power of a new method, at the microscale, to create objects of precisely designed shapes that are highly uniform in size,"

Because each letter is smaller than many kinds of cells, possible applications include marking individual cells with particular letters.

The research also could lead to the creation of tiny pumps, motors or containers that could have medical, as well as security, applications.