Israeli researchers bring nanotechnologies to life

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Israeli researchers bring nanotechnologies to life

By Rava Eleasari June 19, 2005

Source:http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enPage=HomePage

An Israeli team led by Dr. Dafna Benayahu of Tel Aviv University's

Sackler Faculty of Medicine is working with 27 other research groups

from throughout Europe to revolutionize medical technology. Their goal

in the five-year project is to develop the nano-scale tools needed to

create a 'tissue machine' - a device using stem cells that could

produce, for the first time, a specific population of cells or tissue

needed to heal a variety of ailments.

" Imagine that we could transplant into a patient's body new cartilage

or bone to reverse spinal cord damage, or heart muscle tissue to

repair a damaged heart, " says Benayahu of the Department of Cell and

Developmental Biology. " The research we're doing could turn that

vision into reality. "

The project, being supported by the European Union at a cost of 30

million euro, is called 'CellPROM,' short for 'cell programming.'

Scientists already know how to take individual stem cells, nature's

template cell, and program them to turn into one or another kind of

tissue. CellPROM strives to lay the scientific foundations for

accelerating and automating this process on a large and industrially

viable scale.

The kind of stem cells being studied are not embryonic, but rather

adult stem cells, which are found in bone marrow.

" Using the adult type helps us bypass the ethical issues associated

with embryonic stem cells, " explains Benayahu. " In addition, growing

tissues based on a patient's own stem cells could significantly lessen

the body's rejection of that tissue when it is transplanted back into

the patient, " she says.

A specialist in the biology of stem cells, Benayahu is attempting to

develop a " lab on a chip " as her part of CellPROM, together with

microsystems expert Prof. Yosi Shacham of TAU's Research Institute for

Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

The chip needs to automate the process of identifying stem cells from

among the widely varied types of cells found in bone marrow. This is

no easy task, as only one out of 100,000 cells is a stem cell. After

it recognizes the right cells, the chip has to sort and channel them

to a culture dish where they can reach the critical mass point for

tissue engineering.

" The next challenge is to identify the conditions whereby a stem cell

will turn into each type of required tissue, " says Benayahu. " The

nano-biotechnological tools we design will have to mimic natural

processes of cellular signaling and differentiation. "

Benayahu points out the multidisciplinary nature of the project.

Biologists are investigating different types of cells and cellular

mechanisms; engineers are designing the chips; and physicists and

chemists are working on the interface between biology and

nano-mechanics. Every three months the research teams meet for a

day-long symposium to share their findings, and occasionally one or a

few partners will hold a smaller gathering.

" By the end of the project we hope to build a prototype of the tissue

machine, or at least parts of it, " says Benayahu. " There is tremendous

interest by the biomedical industry in this technology, which could

improve the quality of life of hundreds of thousands of patients the

world over, " she says.

In addition to its participation in CellPROM, Tel Aviv University is

the only Israeli institution affiliated with another major pan-Europe

initiative - the Nano2Life European Network of Excellence in

Nanobiotechnology. The driving force behind TAU's joining the network

were Prof. Shacham; Dr. Yair Sharan, Director of the Interdisciplinary

Center for Technological Analysis and Forecasting (ICTAF); and Dr. Ron

Maron, Managing Director of the Institute for Nanoscience and

Nanotechnology.

A four-year project, Nano2Life provides a framework for collaborative

thinking among 200 researchers from 23 institutions in the fields of

biology, medicine and nanotechnology.

" The main objective of Nano2Life is to promote research and

applications in the hottest nanobiotech fields, such as sensing

devices, drug delivery and fabrication of new materials like

nanowires, " says Prof. Rafi Korenstein, a biophysicist at the Sackler

Faculty of Medicine, the head of the n Gertner Institute for

Medical Nanosystems, and the coordinator of TAU activity in Nano2Life.

" TAU has recognized strengths in these fields, " says Korenstein.

" We're a major partner in the network in terms of both the scope and

quality of the research we're initiating. "

Out of 10 strategic research areas identified by Nano2Life, three are

led by TAU faculty members. Korenstein heads nano-based drug delivery;

Prof. Ehud Gazit of the Department of Molecular Microbiology and

Biotechnology, Wise Faculty of Life Sciences, heads the nanoscale

assemblies group; and Dr. Mira Marcus-Kalish, Senior Researcher at

ICTAF, leads the converging technologies group. Other research topics

range from nano-imaging and improvement of biochips to nanotechnology

and cancer.

Dr. Marcus-Kalish also coordinates the joint research activities of

the entire Nano2Life network. This includes determining the focus of

the 10 research areas, arranging for exchanges between students and

faculty members, bringing scientists together for meetings and for

writing joint grant proposals, and enabling researchers to gain access

to facilities and equipment. Two gatherings have been held on the TAU

campus, and the network's one-year anniversary conference was held

recently in Germany.

" We're hoping to evolve into a permanent European Institute of

Nanobiotechnology, " notes Marcus-Kalish. Along with overseeing

research, this body would also tackle ethics and regulatory issues,

conduct short and long-term health risk assessments, and manage

technology transfer. Nano2Life is already working closely with more

than 20 industrial partners to develop new nanobiotechnological

instruments and materials for health care, the environment, security,

and food safety.

A specialist in biological modeling, Marcus-Kalish is enthusiastic

about the possibilities inherent in the nano-bio interface. " Nano is

the language of the body. If you want to speak this language, you have

to work on the nano scale, " she says.

In the converging technologies area, which Marcus-Kalish leads,

nanotechnology experts and engineers are working with biologists,

medical doctors and cognitive science specialists to provide

all-encompassing, holistic solutions for treating diseases or

enhancing the physical and mental capabilities of the human body.

" More than describing any specific product or process, the term

'converging technologies' represents a call to action, " says

Marcus-Kalish. " The new trend in the scientific world is to see a

person - body, psychology and cognition - as inextricably connected to

environment and society as a whole. If you want to solve a problem,

you need to address every angle of it simultaneously, and to find new

ways of integrating and exploiting existing and new knowledge, " she says.

" For example, when designing a drug, you need to take into account the

patient's individual biology, state of mind, eating habits, and

environmental and cultural context, " Marcus-Kalish says.

Korenstein believes that " nano is the last visible frontier of science

- miniaturization on the atomic and molecular level. "

" If you can implant a nano device in the body and operate it, you may

be able to repair single cells or parts of cells, " he says. Likewise,

new materials fabricated on the nano scale could be more reliable,

stronger and of multiple uses.

Korenstein would like to recruit more scientists across the campus to

interdisciplinary research activity in nanoscience and nanotechnology,

" but we need more resources, " he says. " We've got the people with the

talent, imagination and multidisciplinary approach - TAU has

tremendous nano potential. "

Rava Eleasari is Head of Publications at Tel Aviv University.