Through a complex chemical process, scientists in the laboratory were able to develop versatile, synthetic “cyborg” cells. They share many characteristics of living cells but lack the ability to divide and grow.
This non-replication part is important. In order for artificial cells to be useful, they must be carefully controlled, and that cannot easily happen when they reproduce in the same way as real cells.
The researchers behind the new development believe these cyborgs could have a variety of uses, from improving the treatment of diseases such as Cancer Eliminate pollutants through targeted chemical processes.
“The cyborg cells are programmable, do not divide, retain essential cellular activities, and acquire non-native abilities,” says Biomedical engineer Cheemeng Tan from the University of California, Davis.
Cell engineering is currently based on two key approaches: genetically remodeling existing cells to give them new functions (more flexible but also able to reproduce) and building synthetic cells from scratch (which cannot replicate). , but have limited biological functions).
These cyborg cells are the result of a new, third strategy. The researchers took bacterial cells as a basis and added elements made of an artificial polymer. Once in the cell, the polymer was exposed to ultraviolet light to crosslink it to be incorporated into a hydrogel matrix that mimics a natural one extracellular matrix.
Although these cyborg cells were able to maintain much of their normal biological functions, they proved more resilient to stressors such as high pH and antibiotic exposure – stressors that would kill normal cells. Similar to real cyborgs, they are tough.
“Cyborg cells retain essential functions, including cellular metabolism, agilityProtein synthesis and compatibility with genetic circuits,” the researchers write in their published paper.
Laboratory tests on tissue samples showed that the newly developed cells were able to invade cancer cells, highlighting the potential of these modified biological building blocks for later health treatments – they could one day be used to deliver drugs to very specific parts of the body Body.
There is still a long way to go, as promising as these initial results are. The researchers say they now want to experiment with using different materials to make these cells and study how they might be used.
It’s also not clear what exactly is preventing the cells from replicating, which needs to be determined. The authors believe that the hydrogel matrix can stop cell division by inhibiting cell growth or DNA replication, or both.
The fusion of the natural and the artificial demonstrated here, in a way, takes the best elements of both and opens up new possibilities – a state of “quasi vita” or “almost life”, as the researchers put it.
“We are interested in the bioethics of the application of cyborg cells as they are cell-derived biomaterials that are neither cells nor materials,” says Tan.
The research was published in Advanced Science.
