A new chemical labelling tool lets researchers watch the inflammatory receptor P2X7 reorganise and cluster on immune cells at the nanoscale, revealing how inflammatory signals reshape receptor behaviour in real time.

An affinity-guided chemical strategy enabling highly specific biotinylation of P2X7 receptors reveals, by super-resolution microscopy, how the nanoscale organization of endogenous P2X7 in BV2 microglial cells dynamically changes upon activation.