Fish built with plastic and heart cells swims for three months

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Bio-hybrid mechanism regrew muscles, paving way for bio-artificial hearts.

A world of biological robots is just a heartbeat away. Artificial muscles based on human heart cells have just powered a swimming ‘fish’ for more than three months.

Use this article about a technological development as an example of biomimicry being used by engineers to improve body systems. It would be suited to students in years 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, and 10 studying Biological and Chemical Sciences.

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Word count / video length: 445 / 01:39 mins / 04:22 mins

Harvard researchers built this bio-robotic “fish” using paper, plastic, gelatin and human heart cells. Credit: Science / Michael Rosnach, Keel Yong Lee, Sung-Jin Park, Kevin Kit Parker

In a study published by the journal Science, Harvard University bioengineers put a film of human cardiac muscles on either side of a robotic fish skeleton’s tail. The “fish” itself was made from paper and plastic coated in gelatin.

Fed by nutrients in its pond, the bio-fish maintained its motion for 108 days. That is 38 million beats of the tail.

“Rather than using heart imaging as a blueprint, we are identifying the key biophysical principles that make the heart work,” says Kit Parker of Harvard’s Wyss Institute. “[We are] using them as design criteria, and replicating them in a system – a living, swimming fish, where it is much easier to see if we are successful.”

The idea is to reverse-engineer the human heart’s ability to beat over a billion times during its lifetime while “rebuilding its cells on the fly”.

“The really interesting thing about these fish, which we weren’t expecting, is how long they would swim and how fast they would swim in the dish,” Parker says.

As the muscles matured over the first month, they reportedly became ‘fitter’ – improving the biorobot’s swimming performance. The researchers say it eventually reached speeds similar to that of a zebrafish.

The biorobot reportedly regrew its heart muscles about five times over the 108 days.

Schematics of autonomously swimming biohybrid fish. Credit: Science/ Michael Rosnach, Keel Yong Lee, Sung-Jin Park, Kevin Kit Parker

The centre of the experiment was a cluster of cells that synchronised the alternating contraction of the muscle cells, causing the fin to produce a sustained swimming motion.

These cells are behind human heart diseases such as arrhythmia.

Early experiments artificially stimulated the cardiac cells. Then, the ‘fish’ were put in an incubator and “forgotten” for several weeks. When the team returned, “all the fish were swimming by themselves,” Parker told NPR.

But bio-hybrid robotics is not the primary purpose of the research.

Instead, the research team hopes to find ways to produce advanced pacemakers – and eventually bio-artificial hearts – for humans.

The Harvard researchers say the next challenge is how to keep bigger muscles, and therefore more powerful artificial hearts (and bio-robots), alive. That may involve reverse-engineering mammalian vascular and blood vessel systems and digestive systems.

The Harvard biophysics group in 2012 used rat heart cells to build a bio-robotic pump. In 2016 they turned rat heart cells into a swimming, bio-robotic stingray.

“Our ultimate goal is to build an artificial heart to replace a malformed heart,” says Parker.

This article is republished from Cosmos. Read the original article here.

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Years: 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10

Topics:

Biological Sciences – The Body, Living Things

Chemical Sciences – Materials

Additional: Careers, Maths, Technology, Engineering.

Concepts (South Australia):

Biological Sciences – Diversity and Evolution, Form and Function

Chemical Sciences – Properties of Matter

Years:

4-5 & 7-10
Learning Connections

Student Skill Summary

Australian Curriculum Connections - Version 8.4

Sub StrandContent Descriptor
Biological SciencesBiological Sciences is concerned with understanding living things. Students investigate living things, including animals, plants and microorganisms, and their interdependence and interactions within ecosystems. They explore life cycles, body systems, structural adaptations and behaviours; how these features aid survival; and how their characteristics are inherited from one generation to the next.
Sub StrandYear LevelKey IdeaConcept - ACConcept - SAContent TopicContent CodeContent Descriptor
Biological Sciences9Systems | Form and functionStructure and FunctionForm and FunctionBody SystemsACSSU175Multi-cellular organisms rely on coordinated and interdependent internal systems to respond to changes to their environment 
10Stability and changeDiversity and EvolutionDiversity and EvolutionEvolution and BiodiversityACSSU185The theory of evolution by natural selection explains the diversity of living things and is supported by a range of scientific evidence
Sub StrandYear LevelContent TopicContent CodeContent Descriptor
Communicating7Communicate Using Scientific LanguageACSIS133Communicate ideas, findings and evidence based solutions to problems using scientific language, and representations, using digital technologies as appropriate
8Communicate Using Scientific LanguageACSIS148Communicate ideas, findings and evidence based solutions to problems using scientific language, and representations, using digital technologies as appropriate
9Communicating Scientific Ideas for PurposeACSIS174Communicate scientific ideas and information for a particular purpose, including constructing evidence-based arguments and using appropriate scientific language, conventions and representations
10Communicating Scientific Ideas for PurposeACSIS208Communicate scientific ideas and information for a particular purpose, including constructing evidence-based arguments and using appropriate scientific language, conventions and representations
Evaluating7Evaluate Claims Based on EvidenceACSIS132Use scientific knowledge and findings from investigations to evaluate claims based on evidence
8Evaluate Claims Based on EvidenceACSIS234Use scientific knowledge and findings from investigations to evaluate claims based on evidence
9Critically Analyse Primary and Secondary Source InformationACSIS172Critically analyse the validity of information in primary and secondary sources and evaluate the approaches used to solve problems
10Critically Analyse Primary and Secondary Source InformationACSIS206Critically analyse the validity of information in primary and secondary sources and evaluate the approaches used to solve problems