all Donald Ingber stories

Turning on cells with magnetic switches

404132862 — Thu, 27 Dec 2007 16:35:50 -0500

Harvard scientists have figured out how to turn cells on and off using magnets, an advance with potentially broad applications as researchers around the world work to find new ways to manipulate cells and correct cellular functions that diseases send awry.

Mystery of how lungs grow is solved

50443248 — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 10:01:34 -0400

The puzzle of how lungs grow has been solved. Scientists watching the process in mice embryos have found that budding and branching of new air sacs is driven by the mechanical stretching of individual cells.
What's more, they demonstrated that this growth can be adjusted by manipulating mechanical forces involved in the cells' skeleton, a framework of fine tubes and filaments that give the cell its shape and let it move.

Research in brief

50443248 — Wed, 25 Jul 2007 14:44:11 -0400

Optic nerve regenerated for first time, brings hope to glaucoma sufferers

For the first time, scientists have regenerated a damaged optic nerve - from the eye to the brain. This achievement, which occurred in laboratory mice and is described in the March 1 issue of the Journal of Cell Science, holds great promise for victims of diseases that destroy the optic nerve, and for sufferers of central nervous system injuries.

"For us, this is a dream becoming reality," says Dong Feng Chen, lead author of the study, assistant scientist at Schepens Eye Research Institute and an assistant professor of ophthalmology at Harvard Medical School. "This is the closest science has come to regenerating so many nerve fibers over a long distance to reach their targets and to repair a nerve previously considered irreparably damaged."

Full story, http://www.theschepens.org/df_chenrelease.htm

Mechanical tension helps shape lung development

Organ development in the embryo requires precise coordination and timing of cell growth in three-dimensional space to produce the correct anatomic form and shape. Researchers at Children's Hospital Boston, led by Donald Ingber, a senior researcher in the Vascular Biology Program, have demonstrated that the process of budding and branching in the developing lung is driven by mechanical forces generated within individual cells. They have also identified a possible biochemical target for intervention. These insights could lead to new ways to prevent, minimize, or even correct diseases and anomalies of the lungs, which are common in premature newborns.

Full story, http://www.childrenshospital.org/cfapps/CHdeptPagePressDisplay.cfm?Dept=... or visit http://labworks.hms.harvard.edu

Surgery done on a single cell

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:33:20 -0400

A superprecise scalpel that can be used to operate on an individual cell is now a reality thanks to experimenters at Harvard University. "Ultrashort laser pulses [up to 1,000 a second] produce a spot as hot as the sun," notes Eric Mazur, Gordon McKay Professor of Applied Physics. "Normally, that kind of heat would vaporize a cell, but it only shines for a millionth of a billionth of a second. The light intensity is very high, but the energy generated in such a short time can be compared to a mosquito bumping into your arm. A cell can easily take that." A laser beam ordinarily travels right through a piece of glass or a transparent cell, but in this application it is focused into a very, very small space within a cell. "It's like lighting a hot spark inside the cell without disturbing the surface membrane, the fragile bag that holds the cell together," Mazur says. An exacting technique like this opens up a plethora of medical possibilities. The Harvard researchers vaporized a single mitochondrion, a minute biological motor that provides power to a cell to carry out its many functions. They cleaved a single nerve in a tiny roundworm, knocking out the creature's sense of smell.

Kidney disease genes tied to flow sensing

70652986 — Mon, 26 Mar 2007 05:27:56 -0400

Polycystic kidney disease, or PKD, is the most common life-threatening genetic disease. It is caused by mutations in one of two genes. Though the genetic defect that causes PKD is known, how it leads kidneys to enlarge and choke with fluid-filled cysts has been frustratingly elusive. A new line of evidence points to a cellular appendage called the primary cilium, which may act as a mechanical sensor in cells lining kidney ducts. The latest study, led by Jing Zhou, Harvard Medical School associate professor of medicine at Brigham and Women's Hospital, and published online in the Jan. 6, 2003 Nature Genetics, shows that the two genes involved in PKD help sense fluid flow across the primary cilium of kidney cells. Although still preliminary, the work is bringing a new focus in PKD research and turning attention to the role of mechanical sensation in cells.