- Shashank Venkatesan
The idea of a computer chip being able to mimic our body has been a thought since we entered the world of nanotechnology. It has excited many groups of people and has equally terrified others. While the idea of chips to be capable of mind control is straight out of a science fiction piece, the human cell on a chip developed recently has a completely novel purpose.
Doctors have made many pursuits and leaps to understand the interaction between cells and infectious agents. However, in most cases the study remains inefficient as the surface of infection taken is unable to replicate the same complexity that a cell carries; thereby making the study process more tedious and introducing many risk factors. The key component in this interaction is the cell membrane without which the cell would have no defense against infections. This membrane hosts the very mechanisms that make a difference in one’s health. With the advent of Covid-19, research into this aspect became extremely crucial to understand how pathogens affect the body upon entry. Hence scientists at the University of Colombia have developed an extremely beautiful solution to this problem.
This chip designed had integrated cell membrane layers obtained from skin cells with transistors and electrodes. They then developed a mechanism to generate the formation of new cell membranes. The conditions of a skin cell are maintained through multiple electric mechanisms. All of the electrodes are hydrated polymers providing for more moisture for mimicry. The device is capable of detecting any changes in the outer membrane of cells and hence forms an ideal standard to study the interactions of cells and pathogens. After a while, the membrane development becomes independent of live cells and the conditions are identical to that of a cell of the organism. The reactions are screened by electrical and optical recording techniques.
The applications of these chips are still under discussion and many ideas have been proposed to use them in various fields. However, the common usage of the chips as of right now is to understand how different drugs respond to the cell membrane and can they help in controlling the symptoms caused by pathogens such as COVID - 19. It also allows for a much more quicker screening of drugs and allows researchers to explore interactions of viruses in a completely new angle
But like any new invention on the block, there a few issues with the device that need to worked upon. The device requires a lot of sophisticated conditions to be maintained for it to works properly. This also prevents from allowing it to go into mass production but research is still on to make it usable in a much broader scope.
At the end of the day, each day we inch closer to the unification of the natural and artificial, and this device shows hope that we are headed in the right direction.
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