Cyborg cells
Article by young scientists of Kazan Federal University
published in the prestigious journal Chemical Society Reviews
"Cyborg cells" is not the name of a new fantasy blockbuster about cybernetic creatures, but the title of a purely scientific review article by the staff of the Institute of Fundamental Medicine and Biology of Kazan University, published in the prestigious journal Chemical Society Reviews, the KFU website reports. The full title of the article reads as follows: "Cyborg cells: functionalization of living cells using polymers and nanomaterials" (Cyborg cells: functionalization of living cells with polymers and nanomaterials).
The illustration to the article is also unusual. Instead of boring schemes, a cell is depicted, which coquettishly flaunts in front of a mirror, seeing in the reflection how nanoparticles are located on its body.
For reference:
The journal Chemical Society Reviews is part of the publishing group of The Royal Chemical Society (The Royal Society of Chemistry), has leading world scientists as reviewers, and is cited in various databases. It publishes articles on current areas of chemical science, critical and educational reviews. Review articles are intended for research chemists and serve as an introduction to a topic or direction, and sometimes help for lectures or training courses. The editorial board prefers new research. The impact factor of the journal is 26.58.
The impact factor (IF, or IF) is a numerical indicator of the importance of a scientific journal. Since the 1960s, it has been calculated annually by the Institute of Scientific Information and published in the Journal Citation Report. In accordance with the IF, scientists evaluate (including in Russia) also, the quality of articles published in journals.
We present the authors of the article "Cyborg Cells ...": Doctor of Biological Sciences, senior lecturer Ravil Fakhrullin, Candidate of Biological Sciences Alsu Zamaleeva, graduate student Renata Minullina, first-year Master's degree Svetlana Konnova, as well as Dr. Wesselin Paunov from the UK.
"Our article," says Ravil Fakhrullin, "analyzes the main scientific publications on this topic. It systematizes experimental data on the modification of the cell surface using polymers and/or nanoparticles. The practical aspect of the use of functionalized cells is also considered. Each of the co-authors has a number of fundamental experimental works, which are also reflected in this publication. It is easy for a person who has read all this material to form an idea about this scientific field as a whole."
It's time to say that the publication in such Chemical Society Reviews journals is very flattering not only for the authors, but also prestigious for the university, as it helps to increase its international rating.
For confirmation of what has been said, we turned to the Scopus database and this is what we learned.
For reference: Scopus is a bibliographic and abstract database and a tool for tracking the citation of articles published in scientific publications. Indexes 18,000 titles of scientific publications on technical, medical and humanitarian sciences by 5,000 publishers.
From 1996 to 2011, Kazan University published 6,600 articles in leading scientific journals. For 2011 – 374. The total number of references is 17081 (Scopus), the average citation of the article is 4.17. For 4 months of 2012, 69 articles were published in such foreign journals as "Colloids and Surfaces B" (IF – 2,780), "Materials Chemistry and Physics" (IF– 2,353), "Talanta" (IF – 3,722), "Physica B" (IF – 5,255) and others. Four articles have already been cited by the scientific community.
What is the reaction of the scientific society to the article "Cyborg cells..." in the journal Chemical Society Reviews? We present to readers several reviews of domestic and foreign scientists.
Head of the Department of Organic Chemistry of the Butlerov Chemical Institute of KFU, Professor, Corresponding Member of the Russian Academy of Sciences Igor Antipin:
– This work is remarkable for a number of reasons. Firstly, it is published in the highly rated review scientific journal "Chemical Society Reviews" of the Royal Chemical Society of Great Britain, which has an impact factor of more than 26! It is quite understandable that reviews are usually ordered to journals of this level, which indicates the high scientific authority of Ravil Fakhrullin's research group.
It is also gratifying that its authors are young scientists of the Department of Microbiology of KFU, a number of whom have passed (or are passing) internship in leading foreign scientific centers. And finally, the subject of the review is extremely interesting - it is the field of nanobiotechnology. The use of biological objects as templates for the construction of new original devices and hybrid materials seems relevant.
In conclusion, I would like to wish this scientific group new successes and to represent Kazan Federal University at the international level with dignity.
Gleb Sukhorukov, Professor at Queen Mary University of London (Great Britain):
– I enjoyed reading the article "Cyborg cells: functionalization of living cells using polymers and nanomaterials" in the CSR journal. And what is especially pleasant is the first publication in which I met an overview of the latest achievements in the field of encapsulation of living cells using polymer and composite shells. In addition, both advantages and disadvantages of various methods of cell modification are reflected here. It is important that a significant number of cited publications are previously published works of the authors. I was extremely surprised that the author's composition is overwhelmingly Russian, which is very rare now. Unfortunately, science in Russia lags behind in this area. With such a review reflecting their previous original work, this group of scientists from Russia has established itself as one of the leading ones in the field of cell functionalization.
Insung Choi, Professor of the Chemical Faculty of the Korean Advanced Scientific and Technical Institute (KAIST) (Korea):
– The review published in Chemical Society Reviews is an excellent publication that covers the full range of hybrid structures based on cells and nanomaterials. This field is a newly emerged field that will have a huge impact on fundamental research, such as cell biology, biology of cellular signaling systems, as well as cell therapy.
It is also important that to date there have been no such comprehensive reviews in this area. This is a timely report that will be a good source for researchers. It will be useful for those who are interested in these areas and are starting independent research in chemistry or biology, as well as for senior students in the relevant specialties, because it contains useful information about the interaction between living cells and artificial materials. In addition, this training review is a training material.
Professor of the Faculty of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at North Carolina State University Orlin Velev:
– In this review, the authors consider a very advanced category of scientific research, in which they previously managed to obtain a large number of interesting results in the field of "supra-particles" and artificial multicellular systems. They have also developed new technologies for the creation and research of magnetically susceptible cells, which are now used as elements of biosensors. I am impressed by their ability to creatively combine knowledge and methods from several different fields of science, combining biology with nanoscience. They got impressive results! I am glad that this group is dedicated to original innovative research.
Portal "Eternal youth" http://vechnayamolodost.ru10.05.2012