Researchers from Boston University successfully manipulated mammalian cells to carry out certain tasks. The cells can be programmed to target certain diseases (Image via Emaze)
Ever think your body can be programmed like a computer? And not necessarily by watching too much TV. We’re talking about cells in your body actually being programmed to carry out certain tasks. Sounds like something from a sci-fi movie, but a team of scientists actually made it happen. Scientists from Boston University actually found a way to genetically engineer the cells of mammalians, including humans, to make them follow a given set of instructions.
Though engineering cells sound like a breakthrough, this isn’t the first case of it happening. It’s actually a common practice with research teams all over the world. They often manipulate the cells of Escherichia coli and other bacteria because their genes allow them to be changed easily. Some scientists have even tried to program cells to make them detect certain diseases, but results haven’t been successful. So what makes this find different? These scientists weren’t using bacteria to manipulate cells; they programmed human kidney cells.
The team achieved this by using DNA recombinases, scissor-like enzymes that cut out bits of DNA and piece together two targets in a DNA strand while being able to cut out anything in between them. From there, the team figured out how to trigger their activity. In order to design genetic circuits, the team also used conventional cellular machinery, which reads out a cell’s DNA, transcribes into RNA, and turns the RNA into proteins.
One of the tasks the team was able to make the cells do it to light up when they didn’t contain the DNA recombinase they used. The cell was also able to follow further instructions, like lighting up longer under certain conditions. The team also showed how adding more recombinases together with different target stands can build various circuits that can carry out different logical operations. They were able to build 113 different circuits with a 96.5% success rate.
Everything’s in the testing phase right now, but the team hopes to apply the process in real-life situations. Telling T cells to kill tumors by using proteins that can detect two to three cancer cells or turning stem cells into any cells they wanted by using different signals are just some of the potential applications for this process. It sounds promising, but it’ll be a while until we see the process actually used. Plus, cells are complicated; they can’t easily be turned on and off like a light switch. Even though the team reached favorable results, this cell manipulation doesn’t always work. This is an issue that will have to be circumvented if it’s actually going to be used in the medical field. For now, researchers will continue testing just how far cell manipulation can go.