2023-08-08 16:05:11
We use apps to monitor our health and to help us adopt a healthy lifestyle. Some fitness trackers count the number of steps we take during the day. Others encourage us to achieve a certain goal in order to keep ourselves fit. This type of application also measures our vital parameters to alert us in case of health concerns.
Recently, scientists from ETH Zürich, Switzerland, conducted work to improve these portable devices. According to them, future health applications must be able to cure diseases.
They think that thanks to implants and genetic engineeringthese devices might directly improve our health.
Our laptops can perform gene therapy
Portable electronic devices play an increasingly important role health matter. In particular, they make it possible to collect data on an individual’s state of health. Very often, this information has been used to carry out personalized medical interventions. However, these tools cannot yet be programmed to cure diseases. To perform gene therapies, our laptops have need for a direct electrogenetic interface.
Modify the regulation of the cell’s DNA by acting on epigenetic switch molecules can help treat illnesses. With this in mind, the device developed by researchers at ETH Zürich combines the digital technology of our gadgets and the analog technology of our body. It can therefore give a little boost to our body and stimulate our pancreatic metabolism.
A new application that cures diabetes
Thus, future health applications must be able to help us fight once morest diseases. Moreover, the experimental device developed by the Swiss team was designed to stimulate insulin production by the pancreas. This is an electrogenetic interface that might be used to activate target genes. This new gene therapy is called dc-actuated regulation or DART.
The scientists tested it on diabetic mice that had been transplanted with human pancreatic tissue. These pancreatic cells were stimulated to using direct current from acupuncture needles. The electricity generated non-toxic levels of reactive oxygen species and energetic molecules. A cascade of reactions then follows in the targeted cell in order to respond to this biochemical change. In the future, DART might be used to directly encourage insulin production to help diabetics to modulate their blood sugar.
SOURCE : SCIENCEALERT
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