{"id":58120,"date":"2021-10-26T07:34:47","date_gmt":"2021-10-26T07:34:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/?p=58120"},"modified":"2021-10-26T07:34:47","modified_gmt":"2021-10-26T07:34:47","slug":"scientists-use-brain-controlled-dna-nanobots-to-release-drugs-inside-roaches","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/scientists-use-brain-controlled-dna-nanobots-to-release-drugs-inside-roaches\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists use brain controlled DNA nanobots to release drugs inside roaches"},"content":{"rendered":"

Why this matters in brief:
\nConscience controlled DNA nanobots, next generation medicine delivery and glowing cockroaches, what\u2019s not to like\u2026 It sounds like science fiction but it isn\u2019t and one day it will usher in a new era in medicine.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

A team of Israeli scientists have developed a product that uses a person\u2019s brain waves to remotely control DNA based nanobots \u2013 while the bots were inside a living cockroach. When prompted by a human thought, the clam shell like robots opened up and released a drug-like molecule that modified the physiology of the cockroach\u2019s cells making them fluoresce.<\/p>\n

Though merely a demonstration and proof of concept the technology represents a new era of brain-nanomachine interfaces that can link a person\u2019s conscience state to \u201cbioactive payloads<\/em>\u201d and future techniques that build upon this prototype could be helpful in the treatment of schizophrenia, depression or other mental disorders \u2013 because the drugs in question only activate when a patient\u2019s brain waves show signs of abnormality.<\/p>\n

Hacking a cockroach\u2019s \u2013 or eventually a humans \u2013 bodily functions with just your thoughts is a staggering concept to get your head around in the first place but the scientists developed their technology with another goal in mind \u2013 to solve a thorny problem in drug delivery.<\/p>\n

Getting drugs to go where you want when you want is extremely difficult, especially for drugs that work inside the brain. When we pop a neuroactive pill, for example Adderall or Ritalin for ADHD, the active ingredients circulate throughout the entire body. Some immediately get destroyed by the liver, lowering efficacy, others rampage through the bloodstream, often causing side effects.<\/p>\n

Scientists have tried to work around this by encapsulating drugs in different pill coatings or gels to delay release but even these systems aren\u2019t completely controllable since there\u2019s no way to shut them off once the coating peels away.<\/p>\n

A few years ago, a team of Harvard scientists led by Dr. George Church came up with an exotic solution that they referred to as \u201cDNA origami nanorobots<\/em>\u201d. Shaped like clam shells, these nanoscale-robots are made from strands of synthetic DNA molecules that encapsulate the drug payload until it\u2019s time for delivery. Unlike controlled release pills thoug the drug is physically tethered to the shell so it\u2019s never physically free to roam the body. Instead, the payload only works when the shell is open \u2013 clamp it shut, and you immediately block off the drug.<\/p>\n

The opening of the nanobot is controlled by two locks, each one a special strand of DNA called an Aptamer that binds to a target molecule \u2013 a receptor on the surface of cancer cells, for example. When the aptamer locks onto the target, the clamshell unzips, delivering the payload.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese nanorobots are the first system that approaches real arbitrary control of therapeutic molecules<\/em>,\u201d wrote the Israeli team in the paper. But they require us to find specific molecular targets \u2013 present in diseased but not normal states \u2013 for the robot to bind to. That\u2019s already hard for cancer and for mental disorders, it\u2019s nearly impossible. For the DNA nanorobots to work in those conditions, we need other modes of control.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

That got the team thinking. Since mental disorders are often accompanied by telltale signs of abnormal brain activity that can be picked up by EEG, what if we use brain waves to control DNA nanobots and drug release?<\/p>\n

Conscience over matter<\/strong><\/p>\n

To test their idea, the team rigged a simple, proof of concept system that can be further optimized for actual therapeutic use. First, they trained an algorithm to distinguish between the EEG patterns of people at rest or performing vigorous mental arithmetic. They then linked a fluorescent molecule \u2013 the drug payload \u2013 to their DNA robots, tagged them with iron nanoparticles, and injected the bots into the bellies of live cockroaches that were placed inside electromagnetic coils. The iron nanoparticles are key \u2013 like the aptamers were previously, they act as locks controlling the DNA robot.<\/p>\n

A human wearing an EEG cap sat next to the system, and when prompted, either mentally relaxed or solved math problems. The brain waves were decoded in real time and used to modify the state of the electromagnetic coil, powering it on during calculations. The shift in the electromagnetic field heated the iron nanoparticles, which in turn unlocked the clamshell, exposing the fluorescent molecule.<\/p>\n

Within 18 seconds after field activation, the scientists detected fluorescence in the cockroach, confirming that the rig had worked as planned. What\u2019s more, when the human controller mentally relaxed, the DNA clamshell gates closed and the fluorescence disappeared, suggesting that the robots where still physically intact and had successfully deactivated. \u201cThese findings demonstrate a successful interface between the test subject and the DNA robots inside the living animals<\/em>,\u201d concluded the authors.<\/p>\n

Telepathic therapies<\/strong><\/p>\n

The authors believe that future designs of their technology could be used to automatically trigger drug release in humans when required. The algorithm can be trained to track brain states that underlie ADHD or schizophrenia or otherwise be modified to suit your needs, explained study author Sachar Arnon. For example, if EEG detects signs of a burgeoning depressive episode, it could trigger DNA robots to expose anti-depressants briefly to counteract symptoms before they become full blown. This way, the brain isn\u2019t perpetually bathed in conscience altering drugs even when they\u2019re not needed.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a futuristic idea, and lots of aspects still need to be ironed out. \u201cThere is the challenge of taking it into the real world<\/em>,\u201d says study author Dr. Doron Friedman.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlthough there is some trend towards wearable technologies, it is still very difficult to measure high quality (EEG) signals from people in everyday life<\/em>,\u201d explains Friedman. For the system to work as planned, the team envisions a hearing aid like EEG device that continuously and inconspicuously monitors brain activity. When abnormalities occur, it triggers a wearable \u2013 for example, a smartwatch, glasses or jewellry \u2013 to create the electromagnetic fields required to expose the drug.<\/p>\n

But even decoding brain activity is hard, admits Friedman. At the moment, we can find some differences in EEG between patients with mental disorders and controls in the lab, he says. However, having a reliable neuromarker that works in real time is a different problem, and one that we\u2019re actively working on, he says. Nevertheless, the team is optimistic their invention can go quite far. \u201cWe\u2019ve just scratched the surface<\/em>,\u201d says Arnon.<\/p>\n

In this study, the team used brain activity as the trigger signal. However, other parameters should be equally effective at controlling DNA bots, and these data are becoming increasingly accessible. For example, heart monitoring applications are already available for mobile devices, and some are working on gadgets that track blood sugar and other bodily parameters.<\/p>\n

A similar contraption could help us self mediate when needed. With a thought, we could trigger patrolling DNA robots to release melatonin to sooth those sleepless nights or caffeine to perk us up. We could even get ourselves to the perfect level of drunk. \u201cImagine if you could deliver the exact amount of alcohol that you wanted to keep you in a happy state but not drunk. Kind of stupid, but this could occur<\/em>,\u201d says Arnon.<\/p>\n

Then there\u2019s the issue of security \u2013 what counter measures need to be in place to prevent other people\u2019s thoughts from controlling our physiology? \u201cIt seems we still have a lot of work to do<\/em>,\u201d says Friedman. But take note, we may have just glimpsed the beginning of a conscience-over-body world.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

yogaesoteric
\nOctober 26, 2021<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Why this matters in brief: Conscience controlled DNA nanobots, next generation medicine delivery and glowing cockroaches, what\u2019s not to like\u2026 It sounds like science fiction but it isn\u2019t and one day it will usher in a new era in medicine. A team of Israeli scientists have developed a product that uses a person\u2019s brain waves […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1374],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-58120","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-the-threat-of-artificial-intelligence-3480-en"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58120","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=58120"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58120\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58127,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/58120\/revisions\/58127"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=58120"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=58120"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/yogaesoteric.net\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=58120"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}