A new method of building artificial cells from the ground up uses DNA as cellular scaffolding.
These artificial cells have the ability to respond to external triggers such as heat, making them potential building blocks for sensors or cellular reactors. The method of building these cells uses nature’s design principles but incorporates cellular materials in ways not seen in nature, claims study researcher Ronit Freeman, a biomaterials researcher at the Univ. of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
“This freedom really gives you the ability to make synthetic biology that is not necessarily only recapitulating what nature does, but that is free of the restrictions biology might have,” Freeman says.
Cells respond to environmental stresses by changing shape or altering their metabolism, dynamic properties that most materials in use today don’t have, Freeman says. Researchers trying to mimic these properties in synthetic materials have typically tried to break down cells into their constituent parts and reinject them into membrane-bound water droplets to see if they can get them to work again, she says. But more recently, the field has moved toward a bottom-up approach.
“There have been limitations on what people were able to achieve, especially in terms of how to put in the cytoskeleton and arrange it in different...
Would you like to access the complete CEP News Update?
No problem. You just have to complete the following steps.
You have completed 0 of 2 steps.
-
Log in
You must be logged in to view this content. Log in now.
-
AIChE Membership
You must be an AIChE member to view this article. Join now.
Copyright Permissions
Would you like to reuse content from CEP Magazine? It’s easy to request permission to reuse content. Simply click here to connect instantly to licensing services, where you can choose from a list of options regarding how you would like to reuse the desired content and complete the transaction.
