Scientists at Ohio State University have created a nanochip - a tiny device that reprograms cells, restores damaged organs during injuries and strokes.
The process takes less than a second with one touch and is non-invasive.
The new technology, called tissue nanotransfection, involves applying an intense and focused electric field through a chip to the surface of the skin, allowing it to deliver genes to skin cells, converting them into other types.
Thus, the patient's own tissue becomes a "bioreactor" for the production of cells or for the treatment of nearby tissues.
Chandan, who is in charge of the work, says that the skin is like fertile soil on which to grow elements of any organ. Some genes can be inserted into its cell, and it becomes a neuron, vascular or stem.
The device has already been tested on mice with damaged blood vessels and it has been found that the chip turns skin cells into vascular cells. They penetrated the limb of the rodents and actually created a new bloodstream. Seven days later, new vessels appeared, and after 14, blood flow was restored.
The device was also tested to transform into nerve cells, which were injected into the brains of mice with stroke, after which the mice recovered.
Sen and his colleagues will continue to develop this technology. Human clinical trials are planned to begin next year.
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