Recently, a group of researchers at MIT have created tiny freeze dried pellets that upon adding water can translate DNA into proteins. This can be the foundation and pave the way for on-demand production of drugs and vaccines. These pellets are capable of being stored for long periods of time at room temperature and because of their easy storage they can be used in several different aspects: military, hiking, and even be used in everyday first aid kits. Using the growing field of synthetic biology, researchers and scientists can design the cells in the pellets to perform functions that they normally do not have. With the help of synthetic biology, these pellets could be used to form vaccines and produce antibodies. Some of the pellets that they have made are ones that have small proteins that could be used as a diptheria vaccine and antimicrobial peptides that can help fight bacterial infections. They've also made one that can detect the bacterium Clostridium difficile, which is capable of producing severe inflammation of the colon. The researchers on the team have extensive plans to create and mass produce several of these pellets that can be used in every day life. Collins, one of the researchers, wants to purse integrating pellets into "smart bandages" that would detect infection and then produce the microbials needed to treat the infections. I think that these pellets can really change the future of medicine and bio-pharmaceuticals.
Research Article:
DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2016.09.013
I really like the idea of introducing these pellets into bandages for detection of bacteria. I think that detection of these type of bacteria in open wounds will be extremely beneficial to everyone because it would help prevent many infections. Not only that, these bandages could be used for detection of other bacteria if they could make the bandages change color according to the type of bacteria present in wounds.
ReplyDeleteWith the ability of on-demand and mass production, this could be extremely helpful if an outbreak were to occur. Being able to quickly produce a high quantity of vaccines capable of stopping the outbreak and distribute them would make a huge difference in the number of lives saved.
ReplyDeleteI definitely think that this could be a very large help in many different scenarios from vaccines to fighting infections. However, since the pellets could be used in so many different ways, I wonder how expensive and effective this would be. Hopefully it would be a break through that everyone can benefit from! I could definitely see this in household first aid kits since they are easily stored and can last a long time at room temperature.
ReplyDeleteAs Morgan pointed out, something like this might be expensive. I think one of the biggest benefits to something like this, provided it is cheap enough, would be to stop outbreaks in third world countries. It would be easy for them to store and would alleviate some of their worst problems (those of which we have already solved).
ReplyDeleteHopefully these pellets could involve into some form of medical treatment that would be less invasive and cheaper. Another application could be mass disasters and mass displacement of living victims who have been injured.
ReplyDeleteBianka: The paper is behind a paywall from where I am right now, but the abstract defininitely classifies the system as "cell-free". Could you give a little description of how it would work? What the raw materials are, and how big the pellets are?
ReplyDeleteOf course! So the freeze-dried pellets contains what is needed for transcription and translation to occur, which are then made into reaction pellets. After water is added to rehydrate the pellets, the molecular machinery gets to work creating the desired end molecule. The pellets are actually rather small. They are small enough to fit in a household first-aid kit. The cost to make these pellets is about $0.03/ microliter depending on what the pellet is made to do.
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