Five decades of
research and practical application of computers in biomedicine has given rise
to the discipline of medical informatics, which has made many advances in
genomic and translational medicine possible.
DNA-repair nanobot description
Developments in
nanotechnology and nanorobotics are opening up the prospects for nanomedicine
and regenerative medicine where informatics and DNA computing can become the
catalysts enabling health care applications at sub-molecular or atomic scales.
While nanomedicine
promises a new exciting frontier for clinical practice and biomedical research,
issues involving cost-effectiveness studies, clinical trials and toxicity
assays, drug delivery methods, and the implementation of new personalized
therapies still remain challenging.
DNA damage, due to
environmental factors and normal metabolic processes inside the cell, occurs at
a rate of 1,000 to 1,000,000 molecular lesions per cell per day.
The vast majority
of DNA damage affects the primary structure of the double helix; that is, the
bases themselves are chemically modified. These modifications can in turn
disrupt the molecules' regular helical structure by introducing non-native
chemical bonds or bulky adducts that do not fit in the standard double helix.
Unlike proteins and RNA, DNA usually lacks tertiary structure and therefore
damage or disturbance does not occur at that level.
DNA repair
nanorobotics will utilize the same tasks that living systems already prove
possible. Access to cells is possible because biologists can stick needles into
cells without killing them. Thus, molecular machines are capable of entering
the cell.
Also, all specific
biochemical interactions show that molecular systems can recognize other
molecules by touch, build or rebuild every molecule in a cell, and can
disassemble damaged molecules. Finally, cells that replicate prove that
molecular systems can assemble every system found in a cell. Therefore, since
nature has demonstrated the basic operations needed to perform molecular-level
cell repair, in the future, nanomachine based systems will be built that are
able to enter cells, sense differences from healthy ones and make modifications
to the structure.
The possibilities
of these cell repair machines are impressive. Comparable to the size of viruses
or bacteria, their compact parts would allow them to be more complex. The early
machines will be specialized. As they open and close cell membranes or travel
through tissue and enter cells and viruses, machines will only be able to correct
a single molecular disorder like DNA damage or enzyme deficiency. Later, cell
repair machines will be programmed with more abilities with the help of
advanced AI systems. Powerful nanocomputers and fast sequenators will be needed
to guide these machines.
DNA repair nanorobot inside
cell.
These computers
will direct machines to examine, take apart, and rebuild damaged molecular
structures. Repair machines will be able to repair whole cells by working
structure by structure. Then by working cell by cell and tissue by tissue,
whole organs can be repaired. Finally, by working organ by organ, health is
restored to the body. Cells damaged to the point of inactivity can be repaired
because of the ability of molecular machines to build cells from scratch.
Therefore, cell repair machines will free medicine from reliance on self repair
alone.
Nanobotmodels
Company provides it own vision of DNA-repair cell nanorobots. This type of
molecular machine can attach DNA strands and remove damaged fragments from it.
Special express
DNA-sequenator analyze all DNA and cut off damaged nucleotides, or unwanted
genes.
This model is based
on diamondoid nanorobot conception offered by Robert Freitas Jr. Maybe in near
future nanorobotic devices will be more sophisticated than today.
Cell repair
nanorobotics is young developing part of nanomedicine, so next decade will be
decade of DNA reparation using nanotechnology tools.
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