Surveillance of toxic threats by electronic supervision of synthetic neurons in 3D

通过 3D 合成神经元的电子监控来监测有毒威胁

• 批准号: BB/J020176/1
• 负责人: Jeremy Lakey
• 金额: $ 12.77万
• 依托单位: Newcastle University
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Research Grant
• 财政年份: 2012
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2012 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=BB%2FJ020176%2F1
• 关键词: Surveillance; toxic; threats; electronic; supervision

Threats in combat situations include the release of toxic chemical or biological weapons. These are relatively cheap and easily made so that they are available to a wide range of organisations. In fact recent history shows that the biggest threat is from small groups rather than states waging conventional warfare. For known examples such as the sarin nerve poison used on the Tokyo underground and the anthrax toxin used against the US postal service, highly specific and sensitive tests can be created using existing technology such as enzyme assays or immuno assays. These are similar to those used in hospital laboratories to detect disease markers. However there exists the possibility of the emergence of newly engineered agents for which a bespoke test is not yet developed. Such agents may affect cells, such as nerve cells or muscle cells, in a variety of ways including the blocking of specific electrical, biochemical or genetic processes. In order to detect such threats we need a modern day miner's canary, a biological system that can rapidly react to threats and warn personnel of imminent danger. The proposal here is to use synthetic biology approaches to create a miniaturised cell system that being complex is likely to contain the target sites for a wide range of toxins. The read out with be a rapid electrical signal. The synthetic biology will be developed at three levels, firstly a silicon chip will be made using micro technology in which nerve cells will cells will grow. We will design an electrode which has a nanotechnology based surface similar to that of a nerve cell. This will encourage cells to stick closely to the electrode and this will made our system very sensitive even though it uses only one recording electrode to listen in on the electronic chatter between cells. Secondly we will synthesise novel protein nets and pillars to direct nerve cell growth to make the isolated cells more like those in the human brain. This will replace the natural scaffolding which surrounds cells in living tissue, stabilising them and guiding their growth. Finally we will use mouse nerve cells derived from embryonic stem cell lines to give us the future power to design specially sensitive cells for new toxin detection systems. This means that no animals will be used in these experiments and the results will be much more reliable. The result of this one year project will be the proof of principle demonstration of our ability to use miniaturised cell culture as a field technology for the detection of toxic threats to our cities and armed forces. In future the technology can have wider applications in medical research and screening for new drugs.

战斗局势中的威胁包括释放有毒化学或生物武器。这些都是相对便宜，容易制造，使他们能够提供给广泛的组织。事实上，最近的历史表明，最大的威胁来自小团体，而不是发动常规战争的国家。对于已知的例子，如东京地铁使用的沙林神经毒剂和针对美国邮政服务使用的炭疽毒素，可以使用现有的技术，如酶测定或免疫测定，建立高度特异性和敏感性的测试。这些类似于医院实验室用于检测疾病标志物的那些。然而，存在出现新设计的药剂的可能性，其定制测试尚未开发。这些试剂可以以多种方式影响细胞，例如神经细胞或肌肉细胞，包括阻断特定的电、生物化学或遗传过程。为了检测这种威胁，我们需要一个现代的矿工金丝雀，一个生物系统，可以迅速对威胁作出反应，并警告人员即将发生的危险。这里的建议是使用合成生物学方法来创建一个复杂的细胞系统，该系统可能包含各种毒素的靶位点。读出的是一个快速的电信号.合成生物学将在三个层次上发展，首先是使用微技术制造硅芯片，神经细胞将在其中生长。我们将设计一个电极，它具有类似于神经细胞的纳米技术表面。这将促使细胞紧紧地贴在电极上，这将使我们的系统非常敏感，即使它只使用一个记录电极来监听细胞之间的电子振动。其次，我们将合成新的蛋白质网络和支柱来指导神经细胞的生长，使分离的细胞更像人类大脑中的细胞。这将取代围绕活组织中细胞的天然支架，稳定它们并指导它们的生长。最后，我们将使用从胚胎干细胞系中获得的小鼠神经细胞，为我们将来设计用于新毒素检测系统的特别敏感的细胞提供力量。这意味着在这些实验中不会使用动物，结果将更加可靠。这个为期一年的项目的结果将是原理证明，证明我们有能力使用小型化细胞培养作为检测城市和武装部队有毒威胁的现场技术。在未来，这项技术可以在医学研究和新药筛选方面有更广泛的应用。