Devaraj is a researcher at University of California, San Diego.
By Raif Karerat
WASHINGTON, DC: A team led by an Indian American scientist has successfully created the first artificial cell membrane that is capable of sustaining continual growth just as a living cell would.
“The membranes we created, though completely synthetic, mimic several features of more complex living organisms, such as the ability to adapt their composition in response to environmental cues,” said lead researcher Neal Devaraj, an assistant professor of chemistry and biochemistry at University of California, San Diego, according to the San Diego Union-Tribune.
Devaraj and his team released their findings in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Self-growing membranes have been made before by using a catalyst, the study said. However, as the membranes grow, the catalyst is diluted and growth eventually ceases.
“Here we report on the design of a simplified lipid-synthesizing membrane that uses a synthetic, membrane-embedded catalyst that is capable of self-reproduction …” the study states. “These results demonstrate that complex lipid membranes capable of indefinite self-synthesis can emerge when supplied with simpler chemical building blocks.”
The new advance in the production of synthetic cell membranes that grow like real membranes will be an important new tool for both for synthetic biology and origin of life studies, Devaraj said.
The other UCSD researchers in the study were Michael Hardy, Jun Yang, Christian Cole, Jangir Selimkhanov, and Lev Tsimring.
1 Comment
Excellent invention!!! Artificial cell membrane is exclusively new to medical technology…
Jaslynn, Bizbilla