Bioengineers Introduce 'Bi-Fi' -- The Biological 'Internet'
29 replies, posted
[QUOTE][B]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.[/B]
The researchers, Monica Ortiz, a doctoral candidate in bioengineering, and Drew Endy, PhD, an assistant professor of bioengineering, have parasitized the parasite and harnessed M13's 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, we've 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.
Rates and ranges
In harnessing DNA for cell-cell messaging the researchers have also greatly increased the amount of data they can transmit at any one time. In digital terms, they have increased the bit rate of their system. The largest DNA strand M13 is known to have packaged includes more than 40,000 base pairs. Base pairs, like 1s and 0s in digital encoding, are the basic building blocks of genetic data. Most genetic messages of interest in bioengineering range from several hundred to many thousand base pairs.
Ortiz was even able to broadcast her genetic messages between cells separated by a gelatinous medium at a distance of greater than 7 centimeters.
"That's very long-range communication, cellularly speaking," she said.
Down the road, the biological Internet could lead to biosynthetic factories in which huge masses of microbes collaborate to make more complicated fuels, pharmaceuticals and other useful chemicals. With improvements, the engineers say, their cell-cell communication platform might someday allow more complex three-dimensional programming of cellular systems, including the regeneration of tissue or organs.
"The ability to communicate 'arbitrary' messages is a fundamental leap -- from just a signal-and-response relationship to a true language of interaction," said Radhika Nagpal, professor of computer science at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, who was not involved in the research. "Orchestrating the cooperation of cells to form artificial tissues, or even artificial organisms is just one possibility. This opens a door to new biological systems and solving problems that have no direct analog in nature."
Ortiz added: "The biological Internet is in its very earliest stages. When the information Internet was first introduced in the 1970s, it would have been hard to imagine the myriad uses it sees today, so there's no telling all the places this new work might lead."[/QUOTE]
Source: [url]http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120928103802.htm[/url]
- snip, wasn't that clever -
Hey guys lets put parasites in our bodies for science.
trust me :)
holy shit this is amazing. Massive amounts of applications for this.
That's... amazing!
currently organising a lan game for inside my balls
Anyone here know about H+ The Digital Series?
It's about a future where they've invented a computer that's implanted to the human mind to link them to the internet 24/7.
The series's focal point is when a virus is unleashed that apparently kills a good chunk of people who are using it.
[url=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%2B_(web_series)]Yeah...[/url]
[QUOTE=ntzu;37863259]Hey guys lets put parasites in our bodies for science.
trust me :)[/QUOTE]
it would be a commercialism relationship not a parasitic
[QUOTE=ntzu;37863259]Hey guys lets put parasites in our bodies for science.
trust me :)[/QUOTE]
More like in cell cultures, this could be awesome for monitoring the state of microbes used for producing drugs like insulin.
[editline]1st October 2012[/editline]
And it's less "trust me" and more "We spent thousands of dollars and several years making sure this works and is safe, it's ok to use."
Couple this with the dissolving electronics and you might have something badass.
[sp]or not, i have no idea[/sp]
Faster evolution!
Couldn't you techically "update" your cells then if you introduce one of these things in the millions in your body?
Erectile dysfunction, there's an app for that.
So essentially, this rejiggered M13 virus could be used to partially-rewrite our DNA, is that what i'm getting from this? If so, then it could be helpful for getting rid of harmful illnesses or augment certain human faculties. Hell, call me an optimist but this kinda sounds like ADAM in virus form.
bionet before skynet
I don't really see how this relates to the Internet, which is a specific global communications channel. From what I've read here, they've "merely" managed to manipulate very specific genetic messages between body cells, which could be an invaluable compromise between letting the body heal itself and an outside observer acting upon viewing the bigger picture. Like hormones, but more precise and limited, across a few centimeters.
Doesn't seem to connect all the body cells or interact with the actual Internet, so the analogy falls flat for me.
and we'll never hear of it again
[QUOTE=Marik Bentusi;37867545]I don't really see how this relates to the Internet, which is a specific global communications channel. From what I've read here, they've "merely" managed to manipulate very specific genetic messages between body cells, which could be an invaluable compromise between letting the body heal itself and an outside observer acting upon viewing the bigger picture. Like hormones, but more precise and limited, across a few centimeters.
Doesn't seem to connect all the body cells or interact with the actual Internet, so the analogy falls flat for me.[/QUOTE]
What this does is allow bioengineers to send messages from cell to cell in a quick and efficient way. It can contain new DNA to integrate with the host cell's DNA, but it's more likely to be used to send sequences that start or stop certain processes, like packets across the internet. Additionally, with just a few clusters of these in your body every 7 centimetres, you can essentially contact every single cell in the human body, that's why they chose that simile.
Damn why didnt I study bioengineering. That shit sounds interesting.
Sorry, you need to Log In to post a reply to this thread.
