Synthetic cells offer a new option
Medical researchers are trying to make synthetic cells that perform like natural cells in the body.
The success of synthetic cells and biologics may then be used for diagnosis of illness and delivery of the correct drugs for treatment.
Researchers at the University of North Carolina recently made great headway in this search. They were able to manipulate DNA and proteins to create cells that look and act like natural cells. This accomplishment, billed as a first in the field, could have a major impact on regenerative medicine, drug delivery systems, and diagnostic tools.
“With this discovery, we can think of engineering fabrics or tissues that can be sensitive to changes in their environment and behave in dynamic ways,” says team leader Ronit Freeman, whose lab is in the Applied Physical Sciences Department of the UNC College of Arts and Sciences. Freeman made her remarks in a UNC news release; details were published in Nature Chemistry.
“Without using natural proteins, the Freeman Lab built cells with functional cytoskeletons that can change shape and react to their surroundings. To do this, they used a new programmable peptide-DNA technology that directs peptides, the building blocks of proteins, and repurposed genetic material to work together to form a cytoskeleton,” said the news release.
This advance also could apply to biologics, which are used in vaccines, allergenics, somatic cells, and many other biological products. Biologics can be composed of sugars, proteins, or nucleic acids or complex combinations of these substances, or may be living entities such as cells and tissues.
More details: research.unc.edu/2024/04/23/unc-chapel-hill-researchers-create-artificial-cells-that-act-like-living-cells/
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