Synthetic Biology Bottlenose

Travizzle

I had my magnet implanted yesterday, can't wait for it to work! I'm planning on building the Bottlenose. Maybe this is a question better suited for DIYbio, but would it be possible to make the whole thing using, say, GenoCAD, and maybe 3D print off the cells? Maybe print off some cells you could graft to your finger, that could function the same as the Bottlenose? Is it feasible?

chironex

in short, no. the amount of biology you'd need to rework for something like that is immense.

Cassox

A couple of ideas regarding this:

look into xenograf methodologies. Cells generlly have MHC displayed on their membranes... this is like an ID tag for the immune system. Normally transplant patients have to take crap like cellcept to prevent rejection, but from what I understand there's a method which "washes" tissues so that they aren't recognized as foreign. The applications I know of are Porcine heart valves, and some really strange stuff like the transitional epithelial bladder tissue from squirrels or voles or something being sprayed into wounds. I'm not making this up although I am going from memory.

Another possibility is to make something drug eluding. You can have some kind of antirejection agent released from a specific location precluding rejection. You'd very likely get an infection, but alas.

Finally,  autodonation of tissue. It wouldn't be like the mamallian cell lines Glims uses to test cytotoxicity. Those types are immortalized. But I don't see why a person couldn't biopsy some tissue, grow it around a device within the limitations of non-immortalized cell lines, and then transplant/graft it back on. Think of this in terms of the noses and such that are being grown and grafted. It's doable.

So right now, SFM is still primarily working on getting the lab space totally up to specs - it's functional, but I'm also a picky whiny bitch unless my somewhat high expectations are met much to somes chagrin. Our next project is  joint endeavor with a lot of people here.... part of this includes something like the last example - autologous cell grafting. I don't see it resulting in a totally biological bottlenose though.  

chironex

I can't think of a way of making a totally biological bottlenose. It'd require a new organ unlike anything in nature. Not that that isn't doable, just not doable with out resources and good luck getting anyone to fund that. However, as transdermal tech becomes more feasible you could in theory have a transdermal bottlenose so that the sensors are above the skin and anchor the rest and even have it stimulate nerves. That much is far more feasible. In truth this is something i've been tinkering with a bit.

Travizzle

What about something like this: Make a flexible electronic contact lens that could use the data from the Bottlenose to give you a visual representation of where other frequencies originate from, i.e. Ultrasonic, IR, etc. So you might be able to see EM fields and stuff as well as feel them.