A chance discovery of a uniquely luminescent monoclonal antibody nearly ten years ago has proven to be far more interesting -- and far more tenacious -- than anyone might have suspected.

Now, scientists have shown that one of a panel of fluorescent monoclonal antibodies that were first reported in 2000, produces its distinctive bright blue glow through a rare and highly complex recombination of electrical charge.

This charge recombination involves an electron hole -- the gap left by the electron...