China experts develop shells to preserve cells longer

Tag : tooth material

By Tan Ee Lyn
HONG KONG (Reuters) - Scientists in China have developed "shells"that can wrap around living cells and preserve them, and hope touse the technique in cell transplants to repair damaged humantissues and to battle cancer.
In the journal Angewandte Chemie, the researchers described howthey grew these artificial shells around yeast cells. The mineralcoating kept more than 80 percent of the yeast cells alive after amonth at room temperature.
Unclothed yeast cells die way before a month is up.
"This coating is made of calcium phosphate, (the material in) boneand tooth in mammals. It is biologically compatible and livingcells would still be alive after getting the coating," said TangRuikang at the Zhejiang University in eastern China.
"The function of the shell is very close to clothes that we wear.The clothes can't change the nature of the human, but they canprotect us," he said in a telephone interview.
Tang's team was inspired by the simplicity of eggshells; how asingle cell was protected by a thin mineral layer.
Using synthetic molecules which acted as scaffolding, they managedto grow calcium phosphate around yeast cells.
Looking ahead, Tang wants to grow these shells around living humancells, before implanting them into damaged bones or other humantissues to repair them. Continued...