LIVING MACHINES

摘要

Generally when we think of robots, we picture machines of metal or plastic, wires and motors, running on electricity and complicated software. However, in medicine, another kind of robot entirely is emerging: a living machine, or biological robot, comprised of real cells or tissues which themselves carry out specified tasks via chemical or genetically coded instructions. Research partnerships like the Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research & Technology are focused on bridging the gaps between engineering and molecular cell biology. Future applications for this technology may include drug monitoring, reporting, and adjustments in the bloodstream, or identification and remediation of unhealthy bodily intruders such as cancer cells.