A team of Harvard University have developed a cyborg tissue material that is a literal mesh of nanoscale electronics and cells, able to support cell growth while at the same time monitoring biological activities at the cellular level. <\/p>\n
Among the team to device such a material are Bozhi Tian (one of Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35 this year); Harvard University chemist Charles Lieber; Daniel Kohane, director of the Laboratory for Biomaterials and Drug Delivery at Boston Children's Hospital; and Robert Langer, a chemical engineer and Institute Professor at MIT. <\/p>\n
The above image depicts smarts cells: \"Alginate (white), a seaweed-derived material used in conventional cell scaffolds, is deposited around nanoscale metal wires (false-colored in brown) to form a three-dimensional electronic scaffold.\" <\/p>\n
The nanoelectronic scaffolds were made from a thin mesh of metal nanowires, either straight or kinked, dotted with tiny transistors that detect electrical activity. The researchers folded or rolled the mesh into a three-dimensional structure to simulate a piece of tissue or a blood vessel, respectively. The result is a scaffold that is both porous and flexible-not an easy feat for electronics. <\/p>\n
The scaffold was then seeded with cells or merged with conventional biomaterials, such as collagen, into hybrid scaffolds. <\/p>\n
According to Lieber, \"These scaffolds are mechanically the softest electronic materials that have ever been made.\" <\/p>\n
The team tested the cyborg scaffold's sensing capabilities in living cells; they grew neurons in the framework and successfully monitored their firing activity \"in response to excitatory neurotransmitters.\" They also tracked changes in pH level on either side of a simplified blood vessel, and observed subtle differences in the way heart cells on one side of the tissue beat from heart cells on the other side. <\/p>\n
Numerous pharmaceutical companies have already expressed interest in the technology, specifically with regards to the way such a medical advancement could identify the ways in which various drugs respond when localized in difference tissues. [TechnologyReview] <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Cyborg Tissue Acts as Smart Scaffolding at a Cellular Level [Biotechnology]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A team of Harvard University have developed a cyborg tissue material that is a literal mesh of nanoscale electronics and cells, able to support cell growth while at the same time monitoring biological activities at the cellular level. Among the team to device such a material are Bozhi Tian (one of Technology Review's 35 Innovators Under 35 this year); Harvard University chemist Charles Lieber; Daniel Kohane, director of the Laboratory for Biomaterials and Drug Delivery at Boston Children's Hospital; and Robert Langer, a chemical engineer and Institute Professor at MIT. The above image depicts smarts cells: \"Alginate (white), a seaweed-derived material used in conventional cell scaffolds, is deposited around nanoscale metal wires (false-colored in brown) to form a three-dimensional electronic scaffold.\" The nanoelectronic scaffolds were made from a thin mesh of metal nanowires, either straight or kinked, dotted with tiny transistors that detect electrical activity. Continue reading