Engineers create ‘lifelike’ material with artificial metabolism: Cornell engineers constructed a DNA material with capabilities of metabolism, in addition to self-assembly and organization – three key traits of life.

[u/mvea]

http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/04/engineers-create-lifelike-material-artificial-metabolism

[u/Fractella]

I'm reading this as (because I could be totally off point here) something that could potentially be used in medicine in a number of ways, were it tuned to specific pathogen recognition (as outlined in the journal article) . For example, applying it to a wound site, and if its programed to detect MRSA, it will 'activate' and could potentially be programmed to produce a specific set of proteins and enzymes? Could this be utilised to produce something that kills the pathogens if detected?

Edit: words Edit 2: clarity

[u/fissnoc → u/Fractella]

This could be almost anything. We could eventually create people from scratch with this. But yes we could also do what you're describing it seems.

[u/kfpswf → u/fissnoc]

My immediate thought was creating membrane that could suck out carbon out of the air and create something else instead. Perhaps increase it's own mass/multiply.

[u/Stonelocomotief → u/Fractella]

Sounds great, but we can already do that by detecting which pathogenic molecule leads to antibody production, then couple that to a molecule that activates the immune system (toll-like receptors). These are the new types of vaccines that combine intense computational calculations, immunology and organic chemistry, able to even vaccinate against cancers. This will already be much more effective and safe compared to the current vaccination strategy where we just inject a patient with a pathogen that is run through a blender.

[u/BigMickandCheese]

Very cool. What are the practical applications of something like this? Transplants maybe?

[u/toddog455 → u/BigMickandCheese]

I’m not a biologist or engineer, but this sounds like it could be a very good alternative to skin grafting if they can manage to have it self replicate like cells. I’m not sure how it would work with transplanting organs, but maybe it could be applied as a sort of “glue” to speed up recovery times on organ specific surgeries?

[u/BigMickandCheese → u/toddog455]

Yeah interesting point. I read some time ago about a woman who had a trachea transplant (iirc) and some new process was used whereby they coated the transplant organ in cells taken from her body prior to the surgery, reducing the likelihood of rejection and the amount of steroids required afterwards. I wonder in this case, if this "glue" as you put it, could be similarly composed of cells from the host-to-be's body

[u/InterestingAs-Fuck → u/BigMickandCheese]

Sometimes the practical application of something isn't apparent right away because the theory is needed first. This is mainly just a cool bit of science in my eyes that will quite possibly result in revolutionary things.

[u/wotanii → u/BigMickandCheese]

maybe something like self-repairing/self-assembling/self-fueling materials?

the self-fueling part could be used for batteries or engines. The self-assembling-part could be used for cheap mass-production. The self-repairing part could be used for cheap maintenance. Each of these properties would create a million applications on their own.

So at the top of my head here is some way to combine all these properties: Some kind of power plant. You feed it stuff to fuel it (maybe coal?). If you want more power, you feed it stuff to grow (probably some kind of raisin containing all the ingredients it would need). When you do maintenance, you cut of parts that have gone bad or that grew in the wrong direction, and give it some more raisin to regrow.

[u/Theory0fChange]

What does one study to end up doing this? I’m always fascinated by things like this but wonder how these people ended up in this particular field.

Edit* - I get it Biological and Environment engineering. Hmm. I wish they explained our options to us better when we were in high school. While I enjoy CS this seems so much more fascinating.

[u/logicbecauseyes → u/Theory0fChange]

I went and got my bachelor's in biochemistry.

Now I manage windows active directory.

good luck!

[u/nvaus → u/Theory0fChange]

As I understand it it matters less what you study and more who you know. You need to know someone who has obtained the funding to study their special project and needs help with it. That would commonly be your professors in school.

[u/doppelwurzel → u/Theory0fChange]

You can go from CS to this. Get into a chemical engineering or biochemistry master's and then do a PhD in a relevant subdiscipline. Your CS background will be valuable. Don't expect this to be a good money-making career though :p

[u/Qbertt5681]

What type of engineers do something like this? Biomedical?

[u/Sacrificial_Slug → u/Qbertt5681]

This is the bioengineering department at Cornell, but the lab is crosslisted with biomedical engineering

[u/Tooneyman]

I couls see this being used for medigel later on which could be desiged to seal wounds instantly, or even better allow for full tissue to be printed quickly.

[u/Hayw00dUBl0wMe]

What exactly is artificial metabolism?

[u/[deleted] → u/Hayw00dUBl0wMe]

The ability to independently consume a resource and covert it into power.

[u/[deleted]]

What DNA has its own capabilities for metabolism?

[u/BosKilla]

protomolecule is that you??

[u/for_real_dude]

This could be ideal for energy efficiency. Fuel that can self replicate could push space travel further than ever. Or if this could be applied to oxygen, or food (like algae) space travel could go well beyond

[u/jdviper6]

Andy Bernard would be proud.

[u/[deleted]]

That's some intelligent designers.

[u/[deleted]]

Looks like science backs up intelligent design

[u/Kerbalz]

Life-like behavior can be created by intelligent minds. Very interesting.