
Human Cells Eat Nanowires - Procrastes
http://spectrum.ieee.org/the-human-os/biomedical/devices/human-cells-eat-nanowires
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kernelbandwidth
Oh this is very cool. Glad to see Bozhi's work getting some attention. A
friend of mine is co-mentored by Bozhi and my graduate advisor, and was
working on some very neat experiments using this technology to trigger
specific responses in T-cells. Basically, the gold nanowires can be used to
trigger a membrane voltage differential, and theoretically trigger a calcium
flux and then a downstream immune response without an antigen. I know they had
successes with nerve cells, and I'm hopeful the T-cell results will show
similar success.

Edit: Properly reading the article, it looks like this is either slightly
older work, or a different experiment from the one I'm familiar with, which
did show success in nerve cells last time I saw the talk on it (and used gold,
or gold-silicon, my memory is fuzzy now, nanowires).

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CorvusCrypto
My thought was immediately gone to using these nanowires to trigger excitatory
bursts in localized areas of the brain, solving issues like microseizures (or
possibly large scale seizures also) or performing extremely precise electrical
therapy. However as the article says, these cells don't have the same
transmembrane transport mechanisms (wrongly called phagocytosis by the
article) they relied on so this would need more research, but the fact the
wires can generate an electrical potential across the membrane is huge in
itself and the rest can come.

However, the application of drug transport is also amazing. Currently a lot of
research is performed on lipid transports (microbubbles, etc.) or capsule-like
nanostructures to carry hydrophilic or oversized molecules across the cell
membranes. Stimulation of membrane-mediated transport for any molecule just by
attaching a chemically inert nanowire to them would be AMAZING.

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linuxguy2
Is this different than cells self-impaling on asbestos fibers because the Si
nano-wires are smaller? In the video from TFA it showed some cells with wires
going through them that were longer than the cell's diameter.

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jobu
This was my question as well. There are some studies showing that carbon
nanotubes can be as dangerous as asbestos, so it seems likely silicon
nanowires could be as well:

[https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-
nanotube-d...](https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/carbon-nanotube-
danger/)

However, if they can make the nanowires shorter than the minimum dimension of
a human cell then it likely wouldn't cause the same sort of cancers as
asbestos.

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schiffern
>if they can make the nanowires shorter than the minimum dimension of a human
cell then it likely wouldn't cause the same sort of cancers as asbestos.

It seems like a tiny knife floating around inside the cell would still cause
problems, including genetic damage.

Or did you mean it wouldn't cause the same sort of cancers, but rather _new,
exciting_ cancers? :)

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JohnJamesRambo
"Eat" is used very inappropriately here. As far as I know the cells aren't
burning the nanowires for fuel. A more correct term would be that silicon
nanowires can cross a cell membrane through phagocytosis, which I don't find
that surprising.

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dekhn
Eating is the process of mechanical consumption, not metabolism.

~~~
jessriedel
No, if that were true then using a suppository would be "eating". Dictionary
definition definitely implies food/nutrition.

[http://www.dictionary.com/browse/eat](http://www.dictionary.com/browse/eat)

There are non-nutrition definitions, but those concern wear/destruction of a
large object by a small object, not engulfment of small object by large
object.

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dekhn
[ define eat ] -> put (food) into the mouth and chew and swallow it.

We say, for example, "the child ate the book" even if the book wasn't
nourishment.

Obviously using a suppository isn't eating, because you don't eat with your
butt. Unless you're Cartman.

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task_queue
Does someone with a feeding tube eat?

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morganvachon
I was on a feeding tube at 17 years old, and the doctor referred to it as "a
way to absorb nutrients without eating".

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nonbel
This article contains a crapload of speculation that goes well beyond what was
actually accomplished:

>"But before Tian’s group can turn the phenomenon into a tool, they must first
understand how exactly a cell will eat a piece of silicon nanowire, and what
happens to it once it’s inside the cell. That’s what the group did in today’s
report. [...] The process is called phagocytosis"

>"phagocytosis (from Ancient Greek φαγεῖν (phagein) , meaning "to devour",
κύτος, (kytos) , meaning "cell", and -osis, meaning "process") is the process
by which a cell—often a phagocyte or a protist—engulfs a solid particle"
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phagocytosis](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phagocytosis)

So, here is what was really accomplished here (according to this summary).
Some researchers asked: "How does a cell eat a silicon nanowire?" They got the
answer: "by eating it".

That said, it seems like a useful thing to know that this substance will be
phagocytosed. I wish they gave more context though, eg is the nanowire
biologically inert, is there something special about the silicon here, etc.

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GarvielLoken
Anyone else that think that this might be a bad idea?

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runin2k1
I think bathing yourself in a tub full of nanowires is a bad idea.

I think experimenting to determine why and how cells do this, and if it is
potentially useful is fun/interesting science.

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nonbel
>"fun/interesting science"

I thought science is not supposed to be fun. It is supposed to be filling out
an endless series of grants, which no one will ever inspect very closely, that
have mind numbing page-length, formatting, etc rules along with satisfying
other miscellaneous approval paperwork and IT/safety training.

~~~
runin2k1
Oh that is true, I meant fun and interesting for me. I'm sure every day is a
slog for those poor souls doing the actual work.

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sesteel
They call them nanowires, but it might be reasonable to call them a nanoshiv.

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trhway
after correctly doping them with gallium/arsenic/etc. we can call them nano-
chips/computers.

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aperrien
This is interesting, and I guess I have a few questions, for someone
knowlegeable out there:

Can these nanowires be fabricated on an on-chip array?

If so, how densely?

I'm assuming that they are electrically conductive, so can we create control
circuitry to run them at the previously mentioned density?

Can those circuits be made bio-compatible?

If all there are true, then this might be a good upgrade for existing neural
interface devices, depending on longevity.

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germainemalcolm
Anyone know why these cells so readily do this?

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vinchuco
[https://youtu.be/wMFPe-DwULM?t=28s](https://youtu.be/wMFPe-DwULM?t=28s)

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clebio
> Silicon nanowires are ... so thin they are essentially one-dimensional.

Interesting wording.

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castis
I'm no expert on any part of that but wouldn't a wire be two-dimensional?

Or was that the point of your comment?

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fredliu
No expert here either, but I suppose that meant the wire has essentially only
"length" (e.g. x dimension), and no "thickness" (y dimension)?

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johnhenry
*No "thickness" in either the y or z dimensions -- Let's not forget we have [at least] three :)

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osazuwa
How might this be used in synthetic biology?

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known
Can it be used to cure cancer?

