A tissue-engineered jellyfish with biomimetic propulsion.

ABSTRACT: Reverse engineering of biological form and function requires hierarchical design over several orders of space and time. Recent advances in the mechanistic understanding of biosynthetic compound materials, computer-aided design approaches in molecular synthetic biology 4,5 and traditional soft robotics, and increasing aptitude in generating structural and chemical micro environments that promote cellular self-organization have enhanced the ability to recapitulate such hierarchical architecture in engineered biological systems. Here we combined these capabilities in a systematic design strategy to reverse engineer a muscular pump. We report the construction of a freely swimming jellyfish from chemically dissociated rat tissue and silicone polymer as a proof of concept. The constructs, termed

SUBMITTER: Nawroth JC 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4026938 | biostudies-literature | 2012 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature