mrz
11-07-03, 07:49
Cell-Based Detector Lights Up for Deadly Germs
Thu July 10, 2003 02:05 PM ET
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new biodetector made with the body's own immune system cells literally lights up when it encounters anthrax, plague or other deadly germs, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
The sensor could be a quicker and more straightforward way to detect a biological attack than current methods, the researchers said.
It uses B cells -- the immune system cells that produce the antibodies that in turn seek out invaders, said inventor Todd Rider of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"Rather than trying to invent something from scratch, I decided to simply borrow what nature already had," Rider said in a telephone interview.
"These are a type of white blood cell designed by nature to detect bacteria and viruses. Other people had developed relatively artificial methods using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and amino acids, which are time-consuming."
Such methods try to mimic natural processes by looking for specific genes or proteins produced by a pathogen. Rider lets the B cells do the work.
Rider's method, described in Friday's issue of the journal Science, uses mouse B cells that have been genetically engineered in two ways.
First, they contain a gene from jellyfish that lights up.
"It comes from the same jellyfish that is tortured to give us green fluorescent protein," said Rider. GFP is commonly used in scientific experiments because it is easily spliced into an animal or plant and glows under ultraviolet light.
Rider, a biologist and engineer, used a different jellyfish protein called aequorin that emits a blue light.
Second, the B cells were also engineered to recognize specific pathogens.
"Our funding comes mainly from DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and of course they are interested in military-type applications," Rider said.
"We can detect smallpox, anthrax, the Yersinia pestis bacteria that cause plagues, equine encephalitis," Rider said.
"We also developed cells to detect a few non-military pathogens such as the foot and mouth disease virus, so it will be useful for agriculture."
The team has named the sensor Canary, for cellular analysis and notification of antigen risks and yields.
It found a toxic form of E. coli bacteria in vegetables, fruit and meat in less than five minutes, they reported -- which could make it useful for screening food samples for the increasingly common cause of food poisoning.
The team is working on a system that would make the detector useful for testing air, too, Rider said.
"You might be interested in airborne pathogens -- for example with all these things about bioterrorism these days," he said. "We designed hardware that would suck in a large amount of air and deliver it to these cells."
In the body, immune cells often detect an infection but can quickly become overwhelmed. "We don't have to worry about this," Rider said, adding that his system merely has to detect the pathogen. Special, sensitive light sensors pick up the telltale glow, he said.
Rider, who has numerous patents on the system, said he has no plans to spin off a company to develop and sell it. "I am not really expecting to become rich from this," he said.
Kom je net tot conclusie dat SF weinig met aliens te maken heeft krijg je tricorders... :P
Thu July 10, 2003 02:05 PM ET
By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A new biodetector made with the body's own immune system cells literally lights up when it encounters anthrax, plague or other deadly germs, U.S. researchers said on Thursday.
The sensor could be a quicker and more straightforward way to detect a biological attack than current methods, the researchers said.
It uses B cells -- the immune system cells that produce the antibodies that in turn seek out invaders, said inventor Todd Rider of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
"Rather than trying to invent something from scratch, I decided to simply borrow what nature already had," Rider said in a telephone interview.
"These are a type of white blood cell designed by nature to detect bacteria and viruses. Other people had developed relatively artificial methods using PCR (polymerase chain reaction) and amino acids, which are time-consuming."
Such methods try to mimic natural processes by looking for specific genes or proteins produced by a pathogen. Rider lets the B cells do the work.
Rider's method, described in Friday's issue of the journal Science, uses mouse B cells that have been genetically engineered in two ways.
First, they contain a gene from jellyfish that lights up.
"It comes from the same jellyfish that is tortured to give us green fluorescent protein," said Rider. GFP is commonly used in scientific experiments because it is easily spliced into an animal or plant and glows under ultraviolet light.
Rider, a biologist and engineer, used a different jellyfish protein called aequorin that emits a blue light.
Second, the B cells were also engineered to recognize specific pathogens.
"Our funding comes mainly from DARPA (the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) and of course they are interested in military-type applications," Rider said.
"We can detect smallpox, anthrax, the Yersinia pestis bacteria that cause plagues, equine encephalitis," Rider said.
"We also developed cells to detect a few non-military pathogens such as the foot and mouth disease virus, so it will be useful for agriculture."
The team has named the sensor Canary, for cellular analysis and notification of antigen risks and yields.
It found a toxic form of E. coli bacteria in vegetables, fruit and meat in less than five minutes, they reported -- which could make it useful for screening food samples for the increasingly common cause of food poisoning.
The team is working on a system that would make the detector useful for testing air, too, Rider said.
"You might be interested in airborne pathogens -- for example with all these things about bioterrorism these days," he said. "We designed hardware that would suck in a large amount of air and deliver it to these cells."
In the body, immune cells often detect an infection but can quickly become overwhelmed. "We don't have to worry about this," Rider said, adding that his system merely has to detect the pathogen. Special, sensitive light sensors pick up the telltale glow, he said.
Rider, who has numerous patents on the system, said he has no plans to spin off a company to develop and sell it. "I am not really expecting to become rich from this," he said.
Kom je net tot conclusie dat SF weinig met aliens te maken heeft krijg je tricorders... :P