Due to the several technological advancements in the field of medicine, we have acquired ways to cure several diseases, improve recovery and make patient care much easier! We have prosthetic limbs, robotic surgeries, artificial organs, wireless brain sensors and so much more! Now its time for blood as researchers are searching for a way to replicate the tissue that carries oxygen to our entire body.
The red blood cell is quite simple and thus explains several engineers attraction to recreate it. World-class bioengineers have put their heads together to make a red blood cell that performs almost as well as those that run in our blood at this very moment- and it turns out they can do much more! It’s constructed using biological materials and lab grown polymers. Apart from squeezing through the twists and turns of the vascular system, this “terminator red cell” can be tweaked to transport medicines to kill tumours, used as a biosensor or even a magnet to remote control.
Apart from these ideas, there are more daring aspects that are being though of for this RBC. One such aspect being the creation of a sound-powered particle that can carry toxic species of highly reactive oxygen through the vascular system to eliminate cancerous tissue. The bioengineers took it on a whole new level, by the fantastic feature of swapping out their RBC’s to allow them to have features as desired. To make this, they’re using several techniques that result in an empty biconcave shell that can be packed with any biochemical machinery desired.
Although this may take a while to achieve there’s no doubt that the field of medicine is adapting and using technology to its best and we can expect some great things in the future!
Writer: Thwishaa Mehta
16/06/2020
Commentaires