Category Archives: BioEngineering

Much like humans use the Internet to communicate, cells have mechanisms to pass on data to each other. Its a system that is being hacked by scientists who realize the value of being able to send custom genetic data from cell to cell. Because when large groups of cells can be commanded by humans to work on complex tasks, the possibilities are endless.

Typically, scientists have spurred on communication by sending sugar molecules from cell to cell--the concentration of sugar either activates something in a receiver cell or doesnt, depending on the command. But this is limiting, says Monica Ortiz, a doctoral candidate in bioengineering at Stanford. "You cant send very much information with these sugar molecules." So Ortiz and Drew Endy, an assistant professor of bioengineering, set out to create a more complex system.

Their solution, published in a recent issue of the Journal of Biological Engineering: a bacteriophage, or virus that infect bacteria. "We recognized that phage are essentially nucleic acids packaged by protein, and we know that genes and other elements in the genome are always encoded into DNA. So we know that we can encode anything we want to in DNA," explains Ortiz. "We can encode genes, activation of transcription in various ways and we dont need to rely on this middleman sugar molecule."

Ortiz and Endy selected M13 as their cell-communicating virus. Its the ideal specimen: It doesnt kill the host cell, scientists can vary the length of DNA that theyre packaging (M13 packages genetic messages), and it has been engineered to get its DNA into mammalian cells.

The M13 communication system is, as Stanford Engineering explains, like a wireless information network for cells to send and receive messages. M13 wraps up strands of DNA (programmed by scientists) and sends them out in proteins that infect cells and release the DNA messages once they have gained entry. Scientists can send whatever they want in the DNA--everything from a sentence in a book to a sequence that encodes fluorescent protein.

The M13 system dramatically increases the amount of data that can be transmitted at one time compared to previous cell-to-cell communication systems--roughly 80,000 bits compared to one bit with the sugar molecule system. M13 can also transmit data over long ranges.

"Practically I think sending DNA between cells has a lot of applications," says Ortiz. "What weve shown is that we can send and receive a message and do something in the receiver cell with that message." In the future--were talking decades down the line--the technology could be used in tissue engineering as well as in creating artificial organs and biomaterials that have no direct analog in nature.

Ortiz emphasizes that the research is just beginning. "People are calling it the biological Internet, and thats a fairly good analogy. I want to make the point that this is a very early stage proof-of-principle paper."

Ariel Schwartz is a Senior Editor at Co.Exist. She has contributed to SF Weekly, Popular Science, Inhabitat, Greenbiz, NBC Bay Area, GOOD Magazine and more. Continued

Read more here:
The Biological Internet That Could One Day Program Artificial Organs

Eds: Not for use before 0700 AEDT Tuesday October 9

By Michelle Henderson, AAP National Medical Writer

MELBOURNE, Oct 9 AAP - Vaccines given with a painless skin patch rather than needles are a step closer after Australian innovators secured a deal with international vaccine manufacturer Merck.

The Nanopatch, developed by University of Queensland Professor Mark Kendall and his bioengineering and nanotechnology team, uses 100 times less vaccine than a syringe and is smaller than a postage stamp.

The technology is being commercialised by an investor-backed company, Vaxxas, formed in August 2011, but the partnership with Merck has injected extra research funds and potentially opens up a suite of vaccines to eventually be used with the patch.

Merck, the international distributor of the Gardasil HPV vaccine pioneered by Australia's Professor Ian Frazer, will initially fund Vaxxas to evaluate the Nanopatch for use with one of its vaccines.

"This is an essential step for Vaxxas because for the first time we have a partnership with one of the world's largest vaccine manufacturers," Prof Kendall told AAP on Monday.

He said the deal validated the development of the Nanopatch, which was selected by Merck from a field of about 40 other international technologies.

Vaxxas raised about $15 million last year to commercialise the Nanopatch technology.

This process will involve several rigorous testing phases to ensure the patch is effective and safe.

See more here:
Needle-less technology partners with Merck

Bitter Seeds

Eco documentary. Directed by Micha Peled. (Not rated. 88 minutes.)

"Bitter Seeds," a poignant and insightful look into the human suffering caused by agricultural bioengineering, features an unlikely but appealing protagonist to tell its story about a global phenomenon.

Manjusha Amberwar is 18 years old and lives in central India, the site of a shocking wave of suicides, including her father's. She wants to be a journalist (against all odds for a village girl) and begins to investigate the reasons behind the crisis for the local newspaper.

Her journey, and that of her relatives, is the thread of a well-told story about how the U.S.-based Monsanto Co. persuaded often illiterate farmers to use its genetically altered (and more expensive) seeds, instead of relying on the conventional (and effective) ones that villagers had used for eons.

Unfortunately, the kind of seeds that may work for massive agricultural companies do not always work for small family farms, which don't have the resources to provide the necessary irrigation, fertilizer and pesticides to make their seed investment pay off. Farmers often go bankrupt and lose their land - a big problem in a world where 50 percent of the people are farmers, and where the use of genetically modified seeds is becoming more widespread.

This film doesn't provide a lot of bars or charts or fancy graphics. Just cue cards to give us perspective. And surprisingly beautifully shot scenes of an intimate family drama that takes place over a season of growing cotton. From time to time, Monsanto officials (straight out of central casting) appear, and you can almost see their noses growing as they rationalize the suicides and extol the virtues of their (very profitable) seeds.

One of my favorite things about the movie is that director Micha Peled (who also helmed "China Blue" and "Store Wars: When Walmart Comes to Town") does not resort to doomsday talk or hysterics. This is not a dreary film: Underneath it all is a strong sense of humanity.

Continued here:
Review: 'Bitter Seeds' of farmer suicides

By Andrew Myers

If you were a bacterium, the virus M13 might seem innocuous enough. It insinuates more than it invades, setting up shop like a freeloading houseguest, not a killer. Once inside it makes itself at home, eating your food, texting indiscriminately. Recently, however, bioengineers at Stanford University have given M13 a bit of a makeover.

The researchers, Monica Ortiz, a doctoral candidate in bioengineering, and Drew Endy, PhD, an assistant professor of bioengineering, have parasitized the parasite and harnessed M13s key attributes its non-lethality and its ability to package and broadcast arbitrary DNA strands to create what might be termed the biological Internet, or Bi-Fi. Their findings were published online Sept. 7 in the Journal of Biological Engineering.

Using the virus, Ortiz and Endy have created a biological mechanism to send genetic messages from cell to cell. The system greatly increases the complexity and amount of data that can be communicated between cells and could lead to greater control of biological functions within cell communities. The advance could prove a boon to bioengineers looking to create complex, multicellular communities that work in concert to accomplish important biological functions.

Medium and message M13 is a packager of genetic messages. It reproduces within its host, taking strands of DNA strands that engineers can control wrapping them up one by one and sending them out encapsulated within proteins produced by M13 that can infect other cells. Once inside the new hosts, they release the packaged DNA message.

The M13-based system is essentially a communication channel. It acts like a wireless Internet connection that enables cells to send or receive messages, but it does not care what secrets the transmitted messages contain.

Effectively, weve separated the message from the channel. We can now send any DNA message we want to specific cells within a complex microbial community, said Ortiz, the first author of the study.

It is well-known that cells naturally use various mechanisms, including chemicals, to communicate, but such messaging can be extremely limited in both complexity and bandwidth. Simple chemical signals are typically both message and messenger two functions that cannot be separated.

If your network connection is based on sugar then your messages are limited to more sugar, less sugar, or no sugar explained Endy.

Cells engineered with M13 can be programmed to communicate in much more complex, powerful ways than ever before. The possible messages are limited only by what can be encoded in DNA and thus can include any sort of genetic instruction: start growing, stop growing, come closer, swim away, produce insulin and so forth.

Link:
Bionengineers Introduce "Bi-Fi" — The Biological Internet

Originally published October 3, 2012 at 8:06 PM | Page modified October 3, 2012 at 8:39 PM

This region is a hot spot for the biomedical innovation that could revolutionize health care in the near future, and a key to that is the relationship between university researchers and the private sector.

The University of Washington Department of Bioengineering is trying to tend that relationship, through a Bioengineering Affiliates Program, directed by Charles McLien III.

The public sector can be a businessman's best friend, feeding established businesses new discoveries and nurturing young entrepreneurs. University researchers get to see their work put to practical use, and the institution gets royalty payments and esteem (and more grants).

At an open house Tuesday, business and nonprofit leaders, UW researchers and students talked about the intersections of their work and what it means for health care.

Paul Ramsey, CEO of UW Medicine, said in his keynote speech that this is a critical time for the U.S. health-care system, which is under pressure to improve care and cut costs.

Ramsey mentioned the new report from the independent Institute of Medicine that the U.S. health-care system wastes about $750 billion a year.

Better practices and treatments can help improve that, but only if the system will adapt.

Ramsey told the story of the Hungarian physician who discovered the benefits of hand-washing 150 years ago but couldn't persuade colleagues to clean their hands. Even today, Ramsey said, 50 percent of doctors don't wash before seeing a patient. At UW facilities nearly 100 percent do.

Ramsey also said a new treatment can take 15 to 20 years to move from lab to practice, from discovery to drug.

View original post here:
Healthful relationship between UW, business

The internet has revolutionized global communications and now researchers at Standford University are looking to provide a similar boost to bioengineering with a new process dubbed Bi-Fi. The technology uses an innocuous virus called M13 to increase the complexity and amount of information that can be sent from cell to cell. The researchers say the Bi-Fi could help bioengineers create complex, multicellular communities that work together to carry out important biological functions.

Cells naturally use chemicals to communicate with the chemical signals typically acting as both the message and the messenger. However, this method of communication is extremely limited in terms of complexity and bandwidth.

If your network connection is based on sugar then your messages are limited to more sugar, less sugar, or no sugar explains Drew Endy, PhD, an assistant professor of bioengineering. By separating the messenger and the message, Endy and Monica Ortiz, a doctoral candidate in bioengineering, have been able to greatly increase the amount of data that can be transmitted.

They chose the virus M13 to act as the messenger because when it infects bacteria, it doesnt kill its host but makes itself at home indiscriminately sending out DNA strands that it reproduces within its host. The engineers are able to control these strands of DNA, so custom DNA messages can be wrapped within proteins produced by M13 and sent out to infect other cells. Once they arrive in a new host, they release the packaged DNA message.

The M13-based cell-to-cell communication system (bottom) represented with the framework of the Shannon communication system (top) (Image: Ortiz/Endy)

The researchers liken their M13-based system to a wireless internet connection that allows cells to send and receive messages but doesnt care about the content of the messages.

Effectively, weve separated the message from the channel. We can now send any DNA message we want to specific cells within a complex microbial community, said Ortiz.

Using DNA to store the message means that it can contain any sort of genetic instruction. M13 is known to have packaged DNA strands containing as many as 40,000 base pairs, which is far in excess of the majority of genetic messages of interest in bioengineering that range from several hundred to many thousand base pairs.

Ortiz has also used M13 to broadcast genetic messages between cells that are separated by over seven centimeters (2.7 in) of a gelatinous medium, which she says is considered a very long-range, cellularly speaking.

The researchers believe that their Bi-Fi biological internet could lead to the development of biosynthetic factories consisting of huge masses of microbes collaborating to produce complex fuels, pharmaceuticals and other useful chemicals. Even more exciting, the researchers say that with improvements, the technology could one day be used in more complex three-dimensional programming of cellular systems, such as the regeneration of tissue of organs.

See the rest here:
Bi-Fi: New cell-to-cell communication process could revolutionize bioengineering