The extraction of a cytoplasmic sample from a living cell is referred to as a "biopsy." This cytoplasmic biopsy contains RNA, which serves as a snapshot of the cell’s transcriptome at a specific moment in time.
One of the key advantages of this technique is that the biopsy can be obtained while the cell remains alive. This enables researchers to track and analyze the correlation between the transcriptome of an individual living cell and its future phenotype. As demonstrated in this case, such an approach is particularly valuable for studying the development and function of osteocytes.

Nanobiopsy