Microorganisms have been utilized as excellent conversion systems to produce valuable products for human beings. Moreover, more desirable species have been developed by classical selective breeding. This approach has been established as cell engineering, which is more precise and systematic technology. However, it requires time-consuming and labor-intensive processes. Additionally, striking transformation of microorganism property is difficult due to the lack of flexibility in the genetic information.
On the other hand, artificial materials that show bioactive characters have been exploited by biomimetic chemistry. The biomimetic materials can be generated from enormous variety of sources including organic and inorganic materials and show various functions. Also, chemical reactions are more facile and simpler compared to genetic engineering approach, therefore, comprehensive evaluation of the functions is possible in shorter time. Nevertheless, high-performance biomimetic materials comparable with microorganism systems have not been achieved.
In this project, I aim to create “cyborg cells” endowing natural cells with artificial materials. The abundant options of the modifier materials including polymers, metal particles, DNA nanostructures, MOFs, and MEMS complement the lack of transformability of cells. The cyborg cells can generate synergetic effect and pave a way for a new research field.