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Controls cell division using a small chip

SNUMAE Professor Noo Li Jeon

A national research developed a finger-sized chip that controls cell division into a specific direction.

Professor Noo Li Jeon’s research team revealed on the 10^th that, together in collaboration with the Swiss University of Basel and the University College of Dublin, the team has succeeded in controlling cell differentiation and division.

During cell cultivation, different cells show different reactions when exposed external growth factor stimulation. Scientist wish to analyze these reactions but the process is very complex. For example, to analyze a reaction like a cell’s signaling pathways, cells have to be placed in cultivation plates and every different type of growth factors have to be changed manually.

The research team developed a technology which can not only control the type of growth factor used but also the amount. When analyzing the cell’s reaction, the FRET, a device which can observe the cell on a molecular level, was used.

The research team also succeeded in arranging the cells’ reaction based on the growth inducing factors into a mathematical model using this method. The usage of this model can optimize the stimulation of the growth factors which control cell divisions.

Professor Jeon said “ I could present a model which predicts a cell’s reaction using the combination of mechanical engineering, bio-chemistry and mathematics. This could be used in inducing the differentiation of stem cells and prohibiting the cell division of cancer cells.

The research results was published as the cover paper for the November copies of <EMBO> and <Molecular Systems Biology>.
  
 
The research team could present a mathematical model of the cell’s signaling pathways through the use of a bio ship to precisely control a cell’s division environment.

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