Bioengineers sewed backpacks for lymphocytes
Asya Parfenova, Infox.ruScientists have learned how to put polymer "backpacks" on lymphocytes.
Now cells can carry drugs or magnetic nanoparticles "behind their shoulders" that will move them in the right direction.
According to Michael Rubner, the main author of the publication and head of the Center for Research and Engineering of New Materials at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT's Center for Materials Science and Engineering), they are the first who managed to attach an artificial object to the surface of a separate living cell.
The microruczac, which was put on the cage, is polymer. It consists of several layers. The first layer is a polymer that was attached to the surface where the reaction was carried out. A "payload" was applied on top of it – functional substance, for example magnetic nanoparticles. The last layer is also polymer. It acts as a Velcro for the cells – it catches them and holds them.
After assembling the "backpacks", live
The attached object covers only a small part of the cell surface. So there is almost nothing that interferes with the interaction of the lymphocyte with the external environment. "Our goal was to disturb the cells as little as possible," one of the co–authors comments on the work Robert Cohen. – Modified lymphocytes remain viable for 48 hours after the "operation".
By "loading" lymphocyte microrucksacks with magnetic nanoparticles, bioengineers were able to control the movement of cells using a magnetic field. How vividly "loaded" cells move in a magnetic field can be viewed on the MIT website.
Massachusetts scientists did not accidentally choose
Another interesting application is the engineering of living tissues. The particles attached to the cells will only allow them to connect in a certain order. So you can form a frame of growing tissue.
One of the advantages of such a modification, the authors note, is the ability to play with the structure and composition of the backpack before attaching it to the cells. This way you can choose the most effective configuration of the attached object. And the main thing is to make sure that the burden will not be toxic and will not kill its carrier.
Portal "Eternal youth" www.vechnayamolodost.ru11.11.2008