Life-like cells can now communicate over long distances via signal amplification
Scientists have big dreams for artificial cells. These replicas of biological cells in the laboratory could help understand how living organisms work. While a lot of progress has been made in how to construct artificial cells, the phenomena behind their communication and their behavior remain largely unexplored. Researchers from TU/e and Radboud University have developed communities of artificial cells that communicate with each other with unprecedented power. Their studies advance the development of artificial cells that, by being 'interconnected', could be used—to name a few—to deliver drugs more precisely to their targets, defeat cancer cells, or even improve the accuracy of diagnostic testing. Results are published today in Nature Communications.