Frankel

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Welcome by P.I. Daniel Frankel We are interested in the reductionist approach to biology which considers complex biological systems as machines allowing us to apply the laws of physics and rules of engineering to understand such systems. In particular we are working on building bio/machine hybrids bringing biological sensitivity and control to robotic devices. We are also interested in constructing artificial viruses for drug delivery (without the nasty infectious bits!!) and understanding/exploiting the ultimate bio/machine interface, the cell membrane. ▪. Engineering Cells to Communicate with Electronics - Most attempts to interface living tissue with electronics involves finding novel approaches to building microelectronic probes. Our approach is to rebuild the biological systems so they can fit the electronics. This involves genetic engineering of cellular systems to enable them to produce a machine readable signal upon specified stimulation ▪. Building Artificial Viruses- The virus particles infection strategy is ingenious. We would like to replicate this in synthetic particles for the delivery of drugs to targeted cells ▪. Building an Artificial Cell - A bottom up approach to assembling an artificial cell. ▪. Cyberplasm - Building a swimmming bio hybrid microrobot ▪. Building Model Cell Membranesl - The cell membrane is the ultimate signal transduction interface where external signals are passed through to genetic control in the innards of the cell. We are building model membranes out of biological components in order to better understand the structure/function relationship of the cell membrane. We work at the interface between chemistry, biology and physics and employ both experimental and theoretical approaches. If you are interested in studying challenging systems involving complexity and are not afraid of inter-disciplinary work please don’t hesitate to contact me. Dr. Daniel Frankel : d.j.frankel@newcastle.ac.uk

LATEST NEWS !! PhD opportunities 1) Interfacing biological tissue with machines 2) Mimicking the cell membrane to interface biological systems with electronics 3) Building a living exoskeleton HIV paper makes front cover of Soft Matter: Biorobot paper accepted!! 4 new papers in print related to protein unfolding Welcome to the Lab to new PhD student Ana from Ecuador. Cyberplasm receives media attention, here is the original press release living microrobot Congratulations to Orr Yarkoni for passing his PhD viva for a thesis entitled "Engineering an inducible NO pathway to facilitate cell-electronics communication" Congratulations to Darman Nordin for passing his PhD viva for a thesis entitled "Interaction of the extracellular matrix protein fibronectin with model cell membranes"