Blending
Posted: Mon Jan 17, 2005 8:47 am
I was wondering when someone would marry up biological components to nano-machinery:
"Montemano's team used rat heart cells to create a tiny device that moves on its own when the cells contract. A second device looks like a minute pair of frog legs.
"The bones that we're using are either a plastic or they're silicon based," he said. "So we make these really fine structures that mechanically have hinges that allow them to move and bend.
"And then by nano-scale manipulation of the surface chemistry, the muscle cells get the cues to say, 'Oh! I want to attach at this point and not to attach at another point'. And so the cells assemble, then they undergo a change, so that they actually form a muscle.
"Now you have a device that has a skeleton and muscles on it to allow it to move."
Under a microscope, you can see the tiny, two-footed "bio-bots" crawl around."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4181197.stm
"Montemano's team used rat heart cells to create a tiny device that moves on its own when the cells contract. A second device looks like a minute pair of frog legs.
"The bones that we're using are either a plastic or they're silicon based," he said. "So we make these really fine structures that mechanically have hinges that allow them to move and bend.
"And then by nano-scale manipulation of the surface chemistry, the muscle cells get the cues to say, 'Oh! I want to attach at this point and not to attach at another point'. And so the cells assemble, then they undergo a change, so that they actually form a muscle.
"Now you have a device that has a skeleton and muscles on it to allow it to move."
Under a microscope, you can see the tiny, two-footed "bio-bots" crawl around."
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4181197.stm
.