JUST IMAGINE OGANS HEALING WITH A SINGLE TOUCH ,THATS REALLY SOUND LIKE A SCIENCE FICTION

Nanotechnology wonders: Organ healing with a single touch!

By Dr Ananya Mandal, MDAugust 7, 2017

Scientists from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Centre have come up with what sounds like a science fiction -  a nanotechnology device that can switch the cell functions in such a way that the failing organs are revived using a single touch. This technique is called Tissue Nanotransfection (TNT) and the tiny nanotechnology devices inject a new genetic code into the skin cells. These genetically modified skin cells then transform into other types of cells that can help in the regeneration of the diseased cells. The study is published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, authored by Daniel Gallego-Perez and team.

Chandan Sen, PhD, holds a chip that could revolutionize medical care. In laboratory tests on mice at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, the chip was able to heal serious wounds with a single touch by converting skin cells into vascular cells. Image Credit: Ohio State University

Dr. Chandan Sen, director of the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center explains that the chip would take only a single touch and a fraction of a second. As soon as it touches the wounded area, the cells begin to reprogramme into something different. For example they used the chip in the labs on injured legs of mice he said. The injured legs had little or no blood supply and were damaged to begin with. The chip instructed the skin cells to turn into blood vessel cells or vascular cells. The skin cells thus started becoming vascular cells and in a week improvement began noticeably. Within the second week the blood vessels were fully formed to the injured leg and by the end of third week the leg was saved with nothing other than the wonder nanochip.

Researchers demonstrate a process known as tissue nanotransfection at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. In laboratory tests, this process was able to heal the badly injured legs of mice in just three weeks with a single touch of this chip. The technology works by converting normal skin cells into vascular cells, which helped heal the wounds. Image Credit: Ohio State University

Study collaborator Professor L. James Lee of chemical and biomolecular engineering department at Ohio State explained that this was gene therapy. He added that this concept was not a new one and has been studied for quite some time now. What is new is the delivery of the DNA that needs to be inserted into the host genetic code.