Touchless cell migration technology

The new technology was revealed in research published in the journal Science on April 3 by Dr. Luke Cox. Cox also describes his journey from Bristol University student to CEO of Impulsonics. Impulsonics' invention could accelerate new drug discovery, opening up the prospect of personalized medical screening in clinics.

Each new drug often requires scientists to spend thousands of hours growing cells in petri dishes for testing before testing them on patients. To date, this is still a manual process and difficult to automate, leading to expensive and sometimes unreliable processes. This makes it more difficult to develop new drugs for use in the clinic.

New technology from the University of Bristol uses sound waves to move cells, making them appear to be "dancing". This reduces the need for large laboratory equipment, making it easier to automate cell culture processes, allowing scientists to discover new drugs faster.

Sound waves exert force on the surrounding environment. This is why they can create small vibrations in the eardrum, helping people hear. This same principle can be used to move very small objects such as cells.

Initially, Luke researched the physical process of levitating diamonds using sound waves, creating an experiment that kept objects suspended in the air, against the force of gravity. Observing experiments, he realized this technology had the potential to change the way small and delicate objects are controlled.

Impulsonics' device uses many small speakers to carefully control the sound output, thereby controlling the cell's movement. When playing different sounds in sequence, the cells "dance" inside the container. Luke and his colleagues have developed this technology to the point where it can now perform a number of complex biomedical tasks such as expanding cell populations.

"The device is small in size, taking up only half the area of ​​a standard laboratory table, while older technologies take up a whole room. Importantly, it also helps generate high-quality data quickly, essential for biomedical research," said Professor Bruce Drinkwater at the University of Bristol, co-founder of Impulsonics.

The new invention has many potential applications in biotechnology. "Tôi mong muốn mở rộng nền tảng công nghệ độc đáo này để đẩy nhanh quá trình phát triển trong ngành dược phẩm và chăm sóc sức khỏe ở bất cứ nơi nào tế bào được nuôi cấy", Cox chia sẻ.

Thu Thao (According to Phys)