Membrane-on-a-chip
Researchers from Cambridge University, Cornell University and Stanford University have reported the creation of a device that can mimic the membrane of cells of any type – bacterial, human or even rigid cell walls of plants. With its help, they showed how the COVID-19 virus attacks human cell membranes and how it can be blocked.
The device on a chip was created while preserving the orientation and functionality of the cell membrane and was successfully used to control the activity of ion channels – proteins that are the target for more than 60% of approved pharmaceuticals. The results of the study are published in two articles in the journals Langmuir and ACS Nano.
Cell membranes play a central role in biological signaling, being the gatekeeper between the cell and the outside world. The group decided to create a device that carries all the important aspects of the cell membrane without the need to maintain cell life.
The device is an electronic chip for measuring any changes in the underlying membrane extracted from the cell. It allows scientists to safely and easily understand how a cell interacts with the outside world. To create membranes-on-a-chip, the Cornell Institute staff first optimized the process of producing membranes from living cells, and then, working with a group from Cambridge, placed the membranes on polymer electrodes in such a way as to preserve all their functionality. Hydrated conductive polymers provide a more natural environment for cell membranes and allow reliable control of their function.
The Stanford group optimized polymer electrodes to monitor changes in membranes. The device does not use living cells, which require significant attention and are often technically difficult to maintain life, and measurements can last for a long period of time.
Since the membranes are made from human cells, researchers have all the material, including proteins and lipids, and there is no problem using live cells.
Source: article in ACS Nano.
The new device provides a simpler and cheaper alternative to living cells used in the pharmaceutical industry for screening drug candidates. It is compatible with high-performance screening and will reduce the number of false positive results. In addition, the membrane-on-a-chip can be easily manufactured in the form of complexes that allow multiple measurements to be performed simultaneously.
The purpose of this study was to show how viruses interact with cells. The authors received additional funding to evaluate the effectiveness of the device when testing potential drug candidates against the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
To reduce the risks faced by researchers around the world working with the virus that causes COVID-19, scientists within the project will focus on the creation of viral membranes and their implementation on chips. SARS-CoV-2 viral membranes do not contain viral nucleic acid, that is, they are not capable of causing infection. In this way, the membrane-on-a-chip will help identify new drugs or antibodies to neutralize viral spikes that are used to penetrate the host cell. It is expected that this study will begin on August 1 of this year.
Further work will also be aimed at expanding the production of chips and automating the integration of membranes with chips.
Article H.-Y.Liu et al. Self-assembly of mammalian cell membranes on bioelectronic devices with functional transmembrane proteins published in ACS Langmuir journal; article A.-M.Pappa et al. Optical and Electronic Ion Channel Monitoring from Native Human Membranes – in ACS Nano.
Aminat Adzhieva, portal "Eternal Youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru according to the University of Cambridge: Cell 'membrane on a chip' could speed up screening of drug candidates for COVID-19.