Groundbreaking research with eye-opening results has been conducted at Korea University (KU) by Professor Jeong Aram (Department of Biomedical Engineering) and his research team, who published the research paper “Intracellular Nanomaterial Delivery via Spiral Hydroboration” on February 19. It was chosen as the cover article for ACS Nano, which is a world-famous academic journal in the field of nanoscience and technology.
Professor Jeong and his research team developed a microfluidic platform that can deliver various nanomaterials (e.g., gold nanoparticles, functional nanoparticles, etc.) into millions of cells per minute. The transfer of specific substances into cells is one of the most crucial experimental procedures in the cell-based biotechnology and medical fields. Furthermore, the intracellular transfer of nucleic acids allows the expression or inhibition of specific genes for cancer treatment. In addition, gene scissors that treat diseases by modifying certain genes have been successfully delivered into cells.
Motivation for the Research
Currently, biomaterials such as viruses, electrospores, or cation lipids are used to transport nanomaterials into cells. However, these have limitations in terms of stability, price, efficiency, and the rate of reaction. To address these problems, Professor Jeong’s team reported, for the first time, the transformation of cells using spiral vortex flows in microtubules and the opening of the membrane momentarily to effectively inject target materials into cells. The most impressive feature of this new technology is the high reaction rate of millions of cells per minute. Other outstanding features include its highly stable transfer efficiency regardless of the size and type of target material, low platform pricing, and accessibility for non-experts without special training.
According to Professor Jeong, this study was not planned until after he and his team had conducted previous cancer research on the measurement of the deformability of single cell-based cancer in order to develop a machine that can diagnose cancer more easily. During this research, Professor Jeong discovered that cell deformation can open the cell membrane, which allows a microfluid platform to transfer nanomaterials into the cell. At this moment, he realized that by making use of microfluid platforms, physicians would be able to cure cancer and save a significant amount of money at the same time.
Prospects for the New Technology
The development of microfluid platforms is a totally new approach in the bioscience field, especially when researchers engineer specific cells. Previous approaches have both positive and negative characteristics, but all of the methods have a common problem: the difficulty in transporting nanomaterials into cells. The results of Professor Jeong’s research clearly indicates that this problem can be overcome with high effectiveness.
Professor Jeong expects that microfluid platforms can easily be used in cancer treatment via T-lymphocytes (T-cells). By conducting the research, Professor Jeong hopes people will be able to receive more effective immunotherapy at a cheaper price, which can eventually lead to the rapid development of medical science worldwide.