Body’s own cells to keep us healthy in the future

LONDON - Using yeast cells, researchers at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden, have taken a groundbreaking step towards being able to build complex systems in the future where the body’s own cells will keep us healthy.

Genetically modified cells can be made to communicate with each other as if they were electronic circuits.

“Even though engineered cells can’t do the same job as a real computer, our study paves the way for building complex constructions from these cells,” said Kentaro Furukawa of the University of Gothenburg.

“In the future we expect that it will be possible to use similar cell-to-cell communication systems in the human body to detect changes in the state of health, to help fight illness at an early stage, or to act as biosensors to detect pollutants in connection with our ability to break down toxic substances in the environment,” said Furukawa.

These genetically modified yeasts sense their surroundings on the basis of set criteria and then send signals to other yeast cells by secreting molecules.

Various cells could be combined like bricks of Lego to produce more complicated circuits.

The study was published in the scientific journal Nature. (ANI)