One of the great hopes for stem cells is that they'll allow us to eventually replace injured or damaged tissues. But there's a big gap between the cells of stem cells and anything resembling an organ. Organs are complex, three-dimensional structures populated by multiple cell types. Getting a bunch of cells to form these structures is a significant challenge.
One idea has been to use 3D printers. With multiple print-heads and a protein polymer gel, it's possible to construct a rough approximation of the structure of a mature organ. Now, a team of California scientists has come up with an interesting alternative: use DNA as a sort of cellular velcro to get cells to stick to each other and form a complex, three-dimensional tissue.
The basic idea is pretty simple. If they have the appropriate sequences, individual DNA molecules will pair up to form a double helix. If you coat one cell type with a short DNA sequence and then a second cell type with the sequence's partner, the two cells will stick to each other. And it's possible to coat a cell's surface with DNA simply by adding a lipid molecule to the end of the DNA strand.
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