Photolysis is performed resulting in photoactivation of the TIVA tag in the target cell or cells. Specifically, uncaging of the TIVA tag is accomplished using a 405-nm laser while measuring FRET excited by 514 nm. During this process, the mRNA-capturing moiety is released and subsequently anneals to the poly(A) tail of cellular mRNA. To confirm that the cell is not damaged during photolysis, the cell is imaged with the confocal microscope.