A collaboration between the University of California and MIT has created a bioprotonic system that can identify diseases at the cellular level. Photo: File
Boston: We know that cells within the body signal their health or illness by emitting electrical signals and ions. But now experts have created a completely new bioprotonic system that can detect the health and disease of living cells.
Scientists at the University of California, Santa Cruz, have created a ‘bioprotonic’ device that connects electrical and biological systems. It can diagnose human diseases by noting the electrical activity of the cell surface. Details of this groundbreaking work have been published in Nature Communications.
Cells communicate with each other and send signals outside of themselves. Now Marco Rolandi of the University of California and his colleagues in collaboration with MIT have developed this important tool. It is actually an artificial ion channel (charged particle flow path system) that can be set as needed.
Another name for this technique is DNA Origami. It has been genetically engineered by taking a single strand of DNA to allow protons (H pulses) to pass through it. In a way, it acts as a natural cellular pathway through which ions pass.
It thus becomes a biosensor that translates proton signals into electrical signals that scientists can read. Experimentally, he identified B-type natriuretic peptide in the body, which is common in heart disease. Thus it can be successfully used in the diagnosis of many diseases.
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