Nanosensors made from DNA may lead to new cancer tests and drugs

A structure-switching nanosensor made from DNA (blue and purple) detects a specific transcription factor (green) (credit: Peter Allen)

An international team at UC Santa Barbara and the University of Rome Tor Vergata have developed nanosensors made from custom DNA molecules that could be used in applications such as personalized cancer treatments or stem cell quality monitoring. The nanosensors detect a class of proteins called transcription factors, which are proteins that bind to specific DNA sequences and control the transcription of genetic information from DNA to mRNA. The team of researchers at UCSB have used the sensor to detect transcription factors in cellular extracts, and believe that monitoring the activity of these proteins, will lead to a better understanding of cell division and development. For cancer patients, the sensor can determine which transcription factors are activated or repressed in the cancer cells, and allow a physician to prescribe medication to a much more specific problem. On the other hand, for stem cells and cell reprogramming, transcription factors are changed in order to turn stem cells into specialized cells. Alexis Vallée-Bélisle, a postdoctoral researcher in UCSB’s Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, says that the sensors, "monitor transcription factor activities, and could be used to make sure that stem cells have been properly reprogrammed."
It is interesting the use of nanotechnology in current research labs today. The fact that we can detect the activity of processes that are at the molecular level astounding. What would really be cool is if we could   could implement this system in a "cell differentiating machine". The system described in this project could be used to a "quality checker"(much like in an assembly line process) to detect the quality of a specialized cell. This would allow for automated mass production of specialized cells from stem cells.


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