Nanobiotechnology in Russia
Our future is already in our laboratories
Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Doctor of Medical Sciences Mikhail Vladimirovich Dubina gathered at the Academic University of the Russian Academy of Sciences biologists, physicists, nanotechnologists who study from each other and work together on the border of science and technology. The scientists presented some of the results of their activities to journalists at the next meeting of the Matrix of Science club in the St. Petersburg Press Center of RIA Novosti.
The Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology at the Academic University was established in 2008 with the aim of developing new biocompatible nanomaterials and electronic devices designed to study and control biological processes. Nanotechnology is a field of scientific knowledge that is aimed at solving technological problems related to the manipulation of atoms and molecules in the range from 1 to 100 nanometers (10-9 m). When the size of the object under study is reduced to scales of 100 nm or less, the classical physical laws of interaction are replaced by quantum ones.
Of course, nanoobjects whose dimensions are less than 100 nm existed before such a name was invented for them, and even before the appearance of people in general. But the hemoglobin molecule cannot be considered nanobiotechnological, since it was created by nature. The thickness of the cell wall is 7-8 nm, and the length of one nucleotide in the DNA is only 0.33 nm. All this corresponds in size, but there is another necessary condition for an object to be considered nanotechnological: it must be either synthetic, that is, artificial, but biologically directed, or natural, but modified by some artificial methods. The third necessary component of a nanobiotechnological product is that it must be manageable.
Mikhail Vladimirovich recalled the first nanotechnological medicine, which marked the beginning of the direction. The antifungal drug "Amphotericin B" is well known – a very effective, but toxic medicine. Getting rid of the fungus, the patient practically lost his kidneys as well. To get away from this side effect, in the 80s of the last century, the drug was dissolved in fat, turning into a so-called liposomal form, that is, a particle of the drug was inside a tiny drop of fat. Due to the fact that the walls of the fungus have an affinity with this liposomal membrane, the drug gets inside the fungus, greatly reducing the impact on other tissues and organs. The next stage was the proposal of the idea of a "magic bullet", such a set of nanoparticles that not only have a therapeutic effect, but also allow you to direct the medicine strictly to the right place.
The ability to manipulate such objects gives an understanding of how they are arranged and why exactly. The field of interests of Mikhail Vladimirovich Dubina is oncology. Scientists have been arguing about why some cells become cancerous for many years and putting forward more and more hypotheses. But, as it turned out, it's not just that certain mutations occur in DNA, but also in what order they occur and after what time, it also matters. All our achievements in genetic engineering to introduce DNA into someone else's cell are just attempts to reproduce the evolution of viruses that goes back many millions of years. And the panacea of the XX century – antibiotics – are coping worse and worse with bacteria. These problems are new challenges for nanotechnologists.
Igor Eliseev, a graduate student at the Laboratory of Nanobiotechnology, spoke about antibacterial peptides, which, according to scientists, are the future in the field of combating bacterial infections. Antimicrobial substances, which are short molecules of 24-40 amino acids, have been known for a long time. Both humans and the bacteria themselves have them. One of the valuable properties they possess is that resistance to them is almost not developed, and, consequently, it is very difficult for bacteria to resist them. And, of course, scientists would like to use these qualities to create medicines. Antibacterial peptides act primitively, simply destroying the shell of the bacterium. But at high concentrations, you can harm not only the pathogenic bacteria, but also yourself. Therefore, it is very important to reduce their toxicity and on the basis of a natural substance to design proteins with the desired properties.
A few years ago, an attempt was made at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to construct artificial antimicrobial peptides using linguistics. Linguistic analysis has revealed in the known antimicrobial peptides about 700 "characteristic phrases" (patterns) with a length of several amino acids, which everyone has. Igor Eliseev and his colleagues, together with the Institute of Experimental Medicine, decided to continue this work, and they managed to synthesize peptides that successfully cope with E. coli and some varieties of Staphylococcus. Simultaneously with the development, it is necessary to solve the problem of toxicity, because antimicrobial peptides are quite a universal weapon and can harm both healthy cells and tissues. Therefore, most likely, these will be local drugs, or components of the "magic bullet", which was discussed above.
Alas, the introduction into clinical practice is still far away, since the state machine and the financial issue are a more serious obstacle for molecules than the bacterial membrane. As Mikhail Vladimirovich explained, the most modern and effective medicines for today were developed in the 80-90s of the last century. Now science has already reached a fundamentally different level, but today's developments will wait in the wings, most likely, in a few more decades.
Physicist Andrey Chernev is working on a project that can be called symbolic for nanobiotechnology in general. On the one hand, this is genetics, on the other hand, these are heterostructures, for which Zhores Ivanovich Alferov received the Nobel Prize. And if everything works out, it will be a revolution in genetic research, Mikhail Vladimirovich Dubina believes. We are talking about the development of a nanobiosensor, with which it will be possible to obtain additional characteristics for biological objects. As already mentioned, many diseases begin with several mutations that occur in a certain sequence in DNA. The search for these mutations and markers for their detection is one of the most important directions in modern medicine. This is done with the help of polymerase chain reaction (PCR), when a certain section of DNA, if it is in the material under study, is multiplied many, many times so that existing techniques can work with this amount. The result of the project in question should be a semiconductor crystal that, when interacting with short DNA molecules, will be able to produce quantitative and qualitative characteristics of just one gene in the literal sense.
Andrey Chernev gave an example of silicon technologies, which are now the basis of any computer or mobile phone. Approximately the same thing is planned to be created for DNA analysis in order to provide instant results and processing of huge amounts of data. This technology should also surpass semiconductor sequencing, which is based on the fixation of ions that are released when a new nucleotide is attached to a DNA strand. Now it is fantastic, but through the efforts of our young scientists it is moving towards becoming a reality.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru11.04.2013