PORTLAND, Ore. -- Genetic engineering takes cells and alters their genes so they perform functions different from what nature originally intended. A new trend uses circuitry to re-engineer the cell. These biological circuits "wire" naturally occurring cells into a circuit that performs a new function, such as filling in for the dopamine-generating cells destroyed by Parkinson's disease.
"Our ultimate goal, many years from now, is complex medical applications, such as injection of a circuit into the bloodstream that looks for cancer cells and, when it finds one, injects a drug," Domitilla Del Vecchio, a professor at MIT, told EE Times. "Such a circuit would need a sensor, a computer, and an actuation component to inject the drug, and those are the kinds of components we are working on today."
Yeast cells (middle) are wired together like electronic components, but they communicate, not with electrical wires, but with chemicals that only plug into cells with the proper receptor. (Image: MIT)
Other possible applications include synthetic biological circuits that measure glucose levels constantly for diabetic patients and then automatically release insulin when it is needed.
The design process for such biocircuitry is slow and arduous compared with designing electronic circuits. For one thing, the researchers are not using nerves for communication. Instead, they use the normal communication method inside a natural cell, with the "output" secreting a chemical that only affects the "input" cells that have receptors tailored to be activated by that particular chemical.
The second big slowdown is the mathematics used to model the desired circuits. The researchers cannot use simple R-L-C equations like Ohm's Law. They must use the tedious mathematics of differential equations. "Biological circuits are very nonlinear, so we have to use differential equations to model them," Del Vecchio said.
Nevertheless, the payoff will make the effort worth it, since many maladies seem immune to solution by a simple symptom-treating drug. They require a complex cure that actively senses, computes, and responds. The best way to do that, according to MIT researchers, is to create cells that perform those functions internally, rather than trying to wire together an artificial neural network, as so many others have attempted.
Left to right: Ron Weiss, professor of biological engineering; Domitilla Del Vecchio, associate professor of mechanical engineering; and Deepak Mishra, MIT graduate student in biological engineering. (Image: MIT/Brian Teague)
"Besides nerve cells, there are many types of circuitry in biological systems, such as genetic circuitry that controls the expression of genes and the cells that controls the time keeping of the organism, such as when to get up in the morning," Del Vecchio said.
So far, most of the research group's circuits have been designed to sense something, using either yeast cells (in the illustration above) or bacteria cells. "Bacteria cells are much easier to work with, because they don't have a nucleus to deal with."
See the rest here:
Biologists Grow Living Circuits
- Genetic Engineering: Ancient Feats That Started A Revolution - Part 1 - Video - January 16th, 2014 [January 16th, 2014]
- Tissue Culture & Genetic Engineering can revive Sugar industry in UP: MODI - Video - February 9th, 2014 [February 9th, 2014]
- Genetic engineering - Definition and More from the Free ... - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering - humans, body, used, process, plants ... - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- Genetic engineering - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- Ap genetic engineering 1 - Video - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- 4.3c - Genetic Engineering - Video - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering for Dummies - Video - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering - Video - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- The Genetic Engineering Of The Annunaki Gods - Chris Hardy - Video - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering Biology Project - Video - April 10th, 2014 [April 10th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering and Selective Human Breeding - Video - April 15th, 2014 [April 15th, 2014]
- mr i explains: The Process of Genetic Engineering (for KS4) - Video - April 15th, 2014 [April 15th, 2014]
- AP genetic engineering 2 - Video - April 15th, 2014 [April 15th, 2014]
- Trait by trait, plant scientists swiftly weed out bad seeds through marker-assisted breeding - April 17th, 2014 [April 17th, 2014]
- Vermont Senate passes GMO labeling bill - April 17th, 2014 [April 17th, 2014]
- GMO Labeling Bill Passes Vermont Senate - April 17th, 2014 [April 17th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering - News - Science - The New York Times - April 17th, 2014 [April 17th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering: What is Genetic Engineering? - April 17th, 2014 [April 17th, 2014]
- Pros and Cons of Genetic Engineering - Buzzle - April 17th, 2014 [April 17th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering - BiologyMad - April 17th, 2014 [April 17th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering - LeaderU.com - April 22nd, 2014 [April 22nd, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering | Greenpeace International - April 22nd, 2014 [April 22nd, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering | Buzzle.com - April 22nd, 2014 [April 22nd, 2014]
- Routine blood glucose measurements can accurately estimate hemoglobin A1c in diabetes - April 22nd, 2014 [April 22nd, 2014]
- Genome Editing - April 24th, 2014 [April 24th, 2014]
- Genetic Tricks Could Make Bionic Ears Hear Better - April 24th, 2014 [April 24th, 2014]
- Engineered E. coli produces high levels of D-ribose as described in Industrial Biotechnology journal - April 25th, 2014 [April 25th, 2014]
- Scientists Build a Custom Chromosome - April 25th, 2014 [April 25th, 2014]
- GEN Publishing introduces 'Clinical OMICs' digital publication - April 25th, 2014 [April 25th, 2014]
- Deciphering Nature's Alphabet - 4. Imagining the Genome - Video - April 25th, 2014 [April 25th, 2014]
- Remember the American Chestnut Tree on Arbor Day - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- CRISPR Webinar by Drs. Barrangon, Zhang and Church - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- CRISPR Cas9: A novel approach to genetic engineering - Video - April 26th, 2014 [April 26th, 2014]
- Minn. lawmakers consider GMO label - April 28th, 2014 [April 28th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering Overview - Video - April 28th, 2014 [April 28th, 2014]
- Plant Engineers Sow Debate - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- GENs Top 10 Session Picks for the 2014 BIO International Convention - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- TTA14-OGM-Genetic Engineering - Video - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- Genetic engineering and transgenic organisms - Video - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- An overview of Genetic Engineering 2 - Video - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering and Insulin - Video - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- Human Genetic Engineering Final Project - Video - May 2nd, 2014 [May 2nd, 2014]
- No to Genetic Engineering | People and Politics - Video - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Korey Fung Ethics of Genetic Engineering Designer Babies Reproductive Revolution - Video - May 3rd, 2014 [May 3rd, 2014]
- Functional crops are coming - May 4th, 2014 [May 4th, 2014]
- Minecraft- Genetic Engineering Ranch Tour - Video - May 6th, 2014 [May 6th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering Review - Video - May 6th, 2014 [May 6th, 2014]
- d27m - genetic engineering (omd cover) 2014 - Video - May 6th, 2014 [May 6th, 2014]
- Scientists Add New Letters to Lifes Genetic Alphabet - May 8th, 2014 [May 8th, 2014]
- Vermont governor to sign GMO labeling bill - May 9th, 2014 [May 9th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering Intro - Video - May 9th, 2014 [May 9th, 2014]
- SAY NO TO GENETIC ENGINEERING ! SWINE FLU 2009 - Video - May 9th, 2014 [May 9th, 2014]
- New DNA cleavage technique could lead to more versatile genetic engineering - May 12th, 2014 [May 12th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering By Anna from Germany - Video - May 12th, 2014 [May 12th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering with Nadia Ayoub - Video - May 12th, 2014 [May 12th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering Simplified - Video - May 12th, 2014 [May 12th, 2014]
- 2. Dissecting Genders- by Religion, Society and Science (Malayalam) By Rukshana Mahamood - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- 1. Introduction - Gender Equations In FreeThought (Malayalam) By Rukshana Mahamood - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- Gender Equations In FreeThought (Malayalam - FULL) By Rukshana Mahamood - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering Research Project - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- B3 Selective Breeding and Genetic Engineering - Video - May 16th, 2014 [May 16th, 2014]
- Genetic engineering 2 - Video - May 20th, 2014 [May 20th, 2014]
- Court decision keeps NZ GE-free - May 22nd, 2014 [May 22nd, 2014]
- LW Genetic Engineering - Video - May 22nd, 2014 [May 22nd, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering And Cloning - Video - May 22nd, 2014 [May 22nd, 2014]
- Virus that helped eradicate smallpox takes on cancer in startups dual-mechanism immunotherapy - May 31st, 2014 [May 31st, 2014]
- College Prep English at EIE May 29, 2014 - Video - May 31st, 2014 [May 31st, 2014]
- Student Work:Genetically Modified Organisms:ChiChi (G8) - Video - May 31st, 2014 [May 31st, 2014]
- 03 Genetic Engineering - Video - May 31st, 2014 [May 31st, 2014]
- 04 Genetic Engineering cont - Video - May 31st, 2014 [May 31st, 2014]
- How Genetic Engineering Can Cure Drug Addiction? Michael Crichton on Treatment (2006) - Video - May 31st, 2014 [May 31st, 2014]
- Crowd marches against genetic engineering of food - Video - May 31st, 2014 [May 31st, 2014]
- Scotch Moses: Genetic Engineering - Video - May 31st, 2014 [May 31st, 2014]
- Growing The Good Seed - Video - June 2nd, 2014 [June 2nd, 2014]
- Genetic engineering and the Vedas - Video - June 4th, 2014 [June 4th, 2014]
- Genetic Engineering Presentation - Video - June 4th, 2014 [June 4th, 2014]
- Hawaii: Fear over GM plants and pesticides | Global 3000 - Video - June 4th, 2014 [June 4th, 2014]
- genetic engineering -- Encyclopedia Britannica - June 12th, 2014 [June 12th, 2014]
- A Vaccine for Heart Disease Could Mean No Pills, Lettuce or a Gym - June 14th, 2014 [June 14th, 2014]