Through complex chemical processes, scientists have been able to develop versatile synthetic “cyborg” cells in the laboratory. They share many characteristics of living cells, but lack the ability to divide and grow.
That non-replicating part is important. For artificial cells to be useful, they need to be carefully controlled, but that’s not going to happen easily if they’re growing like real cells.
The researchers behind the new development believe these cyborgs have a wide variety of uses, from improving treatments for diseases such as: cancer Contamination cleanup through targeted chemical processes.
“Cyborg cells are programmable, do not divide, maintain intrinsic cellular activity, and acquire non-native abilities.” To tell Cheemeng Tan, a biomedical engineer at the University of California, Davis.
Cell engineering is currently based on two main approaches. There are methods for genetically modifying existing cells to give them new functions (more flexible, but also reproducible), and building synthetic cells from scratch (which cannot be replicated, but have limited biological functions). method).
These cyborg cells are the result of a new third strategy. The researchers used bacterial cells as a base and added elements from artificial polymers.Once inside the cell, the polymer is exposed to UV light and is built into a hydrogel matrix by cross-linking to form a natural extracellular matrix.
These cyborg cells are able to maintain many of their normal biological functions, but are more resistant to stressors such as high pH and exposure to antibiotics, which kill normal cells. It has been proven. Like real cyborgs, they are tough.
“The cyborg cell is a cell metabolism, Motilityprotein synthesis, and compatibility with genetic circuits,” the researchers wrote in their paper. published papers.
Laboratory tests on tissue samples have shown that the newly developed cells can invade cancer cells. This highlights the potential for these altered biological components to be useful in future health treatments. These may one day be used to deliver drugs to very specific parts of the body. body.
As promising as these early results are, it still has a long way to go. I would like to investigate how it is used.
Also, it is not clear exactly what is interfering with cell replication and needs to be identified. The authors speculate that hydrogel matrices may arrest cell division by inhibiting cell proliferation or DNA replication, or both.
The mixture of natural and man-made shown here, in some ways, takes the best of both worlds, opening up new possibilities for what the researchers call a “quasi-living” or “near-living” state. I’m here.
“Since cyborg cells are cell-derived biomaterials that are neither cells nor materials, I am interested in the bioethics of their application.” tan says.
This research advanced science.
