One of the many ways science is going to find new solutions is biomimetics - also called “bionik" - where you try to imitate or restore nature's amazing properties all the way down to the molecular level. On the nanotechnical scale, researchers are working to produce artificial body cells and blood cells or brand new organs.
Nanotechnology has the potential to reproduce organs and new parts to the body's broken tissues or copy the building blocks of the broken body.
Leticia Hosta-Rigau, associate professor at the Department of Micro and Nanotechnology, is one of the researchers who are involved in biomimetic approaches to producing artificial cells for future healthcare solutions.
Multicompartment carriers
When you want to emulate the cells of the body, it may be to replace a missing or lost function in the existing cells. The method can be used if the body does not produce a particular enzyme.
“The main feature of biological cells and organelles is compartmentalisation. There is no life without compartmentalisation and biological cells have developed this strategy as a powerful tool to optimise the chemistry and physics using a single bilayer,” says Leticia Hosta-Rigau.
“We have recently reported a new class of multicompartment carriers mimicking the compartmentalised structure of a cell which consists of thousands of liposomes embedded within a polymeric carrier capsule.
Our multicompartment carrier will be working as artificial cells towards the treatment of conditions suffering from a malfunctioning enzyme or as an erythrocyte mimic towards the creation of a universal red blood cell substitute.
Furthermore, when administered into cells, our multicompartment carrier can act as a “cell implant” in the form of artificial organelles that can contribute to the treatment of several cell disorders by replenishing diminished cell activity.
This new class of therapeutics can be used as sustainable therapies for a variety of diseases.”
You can experience Leticia Hosta-Rigau at Sustain Conference on 6th December: “Biomimetic approaches towards the creation of artificial cells and organelles for future healthcare solutions”