COLUMBUS – If scientists at Ohio State have not invented immortality, they may have at least taken a big step in the right direction.
Through technology known as “tissue nanotransfection” researchers at the Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies at OSU Wexner Medical Center have developed a device that can switch cell function and repair injured tissue or restore function of aging tissue, including organs, blood vessels and nerve cells, with a single touch, said center director Dr. Chandan Sen (right).
“It takes just a fraction of a second. You simply touch the chip to the wounded area, then remove it. At that point, the cell reprogramming begins,” he said.
The technology injects genetic code into skin cells, turning those skin cells into other types of cells required for treating diseased conditions, said Sen, who conducted the study with L. James Lee, professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering with Ohio State’s College of Engineering in collaboration with Ohio State’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center.
Results of the regenerative medicine study were published Monday in the journal Nature Nanotechnology.
“With this technology, we can convert skin cells into elements of any organ with just one touch. This process only takes less than a second and is non-invasive, and then you’re off,” Sen said.
In a series of lab tests, the chip was applied to the injured legs of mice where little to no blood flow had been detected, reprogrammed the skin cells to become vascular cells and Sen says the researchers began noticing the transformation within a week.
By the second week, active blood vessels had formed, and by the third week, the legs of the mice were saved with no other form of treatment.
“The concept is very simple. As a matter of fact, we were even surprised how it worked so well,” Lee said. “This is the beginning, more to come.”
Researchers plan to start clinical trials next year to test this technology in humans, Sen said.