Osmotic shock is a process of rapidly changing the concentration of solutes outside of a cell in order to disrupt the cell’s structure and induce various changes in the cellular environment. The osmotic shock technique is a powerful tool used in biochemistry, molecular biology and cell biology to study the interaction of molecules and cells with the environment. It is used to identify and characterize proteins and their function and can also be used to observe the changes in gene expression, cell metabolism and cellular regeneration. Osmotic shock can also be used to rapidly prepare proteins for crystallographic analysis, prepare cells for optimal staining, and in cell engineering and gene editing to induce mutation in genes.