molecular prosthetics tagged posts

The small molecule hinokitiol transports iron across cell membranes where transport proteins are missing. Credit: Julie McMahon and Liz Ahlberg Touchstone, University of Illinois

“If you’re sick because you have too much protein function, in many cases we can do something about it. But if you’re sick because you’re missing a protein that does an essential function, we struggle to do anything other than treat the symptoms. It’s a huge unmet medical need,” said Burke, who also is a medical doctor. Burke’s team found that a small molecule called hinokitiol, derived from a species of cypress tree found in Japan, can transport iron across cell membranes that are missing transport proteins.

In a healthy system, transport proteins move iron across cell membranes to uptake iron from the gut or mak...

Bradley Nelson’s medical microrobots are inspired by natural microorganisms. Credit: Multi-Scale Robotics Lab

ETH researchers are developing tiny, sophisticated technological and biological machines enabling non-invasive, selective therapies. Their creations include genetically modified cells that can be activated via brain waves, and swarms of microrobots that facilitate highly precise application of drugs. Richard Fleischner, who directed the 1966 cult film Fantastic Voyage, would have been delighted with Bradley Nelson’s research: similar to the story in Fleischner’s film, Prof. Nelson wants to load tiny robots with drugs and manoeuvre them to the precise location in the human body where treatment is needed, for instance to the site of a cancer tumour...