Life is not like we still know?

A leading scientific journal said that scientists at Nottingham University have achieved the first important steps in creating an artificial living cell.

Dr. Cameron Alexander and graduate student George Pasparakis at the University of Pharmacy have used polymers - long chain molecules - to build the capsule structure that has the same properties as the surface of a real cell.

The paper, centered on Angewandte Chemie International Edition, shows how scientists make 'talk' with natural bacterial cells in the laboratory and communicate molecular information.

This discovery may bring some potential chemical applications. One of them is the development of a targeted drug delivery system, which is used to carry drug molecules that attack certain infected cells of the body without touching healthy cells. Other strong. Thus reducing the side effects associated with the treatment of critical diseases such as cancer.

This technology can also be used as an anti-bacterial agent, which allows doctors to kill harmful bacteria without affecting healthy bacteria in the body. This is a new weapon against viruses.

Dr Cameron Alexander said: 'These are very basic steps in the laboratory, and there is still a long way to go until creating an accurate artificial copy of biological cells. However, we have shown that it is possible to transfer certain molecules from within the artificial pupa to bacteria when there is contact between them - this is a very interesting progress. '

3-dimensional image of a living cell.(Photo: MIT)

'Although these are just initial steps, it has brought us closer to the big experiment when one day we can question whether a natural cell can treat artificial cells as its kind or not '.

The study was funded by IDEAS Factory (the Natural and Applied Scientific Research Council (EPSRC) program to promote research on rare issues. The work begins the first UK research network of synthetic biology led by Nottingham University computer experts, pharmacists and chemists from Oxford and Glasgow universities. This network is funded by the Biotechnology and Scientific Research Council (BBSRC) and the EPSRC's Scientific Life Program in collaboration with 6 centers, including scientific and anthropological experts in Outstanding problems of synthetic biology.

The article titled 'Sweet-talking Double Hydrophilic Block Copolymer Vesicles' is posted online at
http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/anie.200801098