Microelectromechanical systems (MEMS): merging cells and machines

Filed in archive Medical on January 6, 2006

Nanotechnology is making possible a convergence between the living world of cells and the electrical and mechanical world of machines. In the strange world of microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) the boundaries separating living and nonliving systems blurs and new possibilities arise. Two recent advances highlight the possibilities for design at the interface between cells and machines.

Abu Samah Zuruzi and his colleagues at Intel Assembly Technology Development and the University of California at Santa Barbara have found that metal oxides covered with nanometer-diameter pores could help interface living cells with electronics for prosthetics and other advanced devices. Adherence of cells to medical implants is critical in these fields, and Zuruzi discovered that cells attach up to five times faster when nanomaterials like titanium dioxide are dotted with pores 50 to 200 nanometers wide, apparently due to the increased surface area of the resulting surface.

A related development comes from belgium, where chemists have developed "self-exploding" microcapsules they say could one day release drugs and vaccines inside the human body weeks or even months after injection. These microcapsules have a biodegradable gel core surrounded by a lipid membrane. As the gel biodegrades, pressure builds up in the membrane. Eventually the microcapsule ruptures, releasing the medication. The system could allow certain vaccines to be given in a single shot, with the " booster " microcapsules timed to rupture at appropriate intervals, eliminating the need for subsequent booster injections.

These and other developments in bio-, micro- and nanosystems will be the subject a conference next week in San Francisco. The American Society for Microbiology's (ASM) Conference on Bio-, Micro-, Nanosystems (held in collaboration with the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society) will be held January 15-18, 2006 at the Fairmont Hotel in San Francisco, California. Its participants aim to explore how microorganisms can contribute to the field of nanotechnology. Topics to be covered include:

• Using bacteria and biotechnology to manufacture microscopic electronic devices
• Developing interfaces between biological materials and nano-structures for applications such as disease detection, monitoring and control.
• Using bacteria and other biological materials for information processing or as biomachines.
• Using nanotechnology to diagnose and treat disease.