Channels to Cellular EngineeringFollowing the exciting message "All Science is Interdisciplinary", elaborated on in the Nobel lecture of Paul C Lauterbur - one of the Medicine or Physiology Nobel laureates for 2003 (see also the January 2004 Issue of the IFMBE News), this issue of the News brings comments dedicated to the 2003 Nobel Laureates in Chemistry: Peter Agre from John Hopkins University, Baltimore, and Roderick MacKinnon, Rockefeller University, New York. In her retrospection, Prof. Laura Poole-Warren, from the Graduate School of Biomedical Engineering, University of New South Wales, answers the question "What contribution have the Nobel Laureates in Chemistry had to the field of Cellular Engineering?". Indeed, it took several decades from the first proposals to explain the osmotic balance of the cell by water channels in the second half of the 19th century to the first of Agre's publications on the protein relevant for channels, aquaporin, in early 1970'es [Science 291, 385, 1992]. The structural studies on how the ion channel works, earned MacKinnon the Nobel Prize. In 1998 he published the first high-resolution picture of an ion channel derived from x-ray crystallography and from this, was able to determine the spatial structure of a potassium channel [Science, 297, pp. 69 and 106, 1998]. Again, with these Nobel laureates, it was thought possible that some may receive a prize for physiology: the explanation of the question of how ion channels achieve their selectivity is critically important for both biology and medicine, but it is actually a matter solved within the field of chemistry [Science, 302, pp. 383-4, 2003]. Mid February saw another jolt in the field of cellular engineering: "Evidence of a Pluripotent Human Embryonic Stem Cell Line Derived from a Cloned Blastocyst" [Science, published online February 12, 2004]. Suddenly the news about the first development of a number of cloned human embryos was on the cover of nearly all daily newspapers and in commentaries on television, followed immediately by reviews in many scientific magazines and journals. This surprise came from the Seoul National University where Dr. Woo Suk Hwang, (a veterinary surgeon by profession), and his multi-university team succeeded in producing a line of stem cells from cloned embryos. The researchers in Seoul injected genetic material from adult human cells into human eggs that had their own DNA removed. The resulting embryos had the same DNA as their adult donors, making them clones. The researchers then harvested stem cells from these embryos. "Because these cells carry the nuclear genome of the individual, after differentiation they could be expected to be transplanted without immune rejection for treatment of degenerative disorders" said Hwang in one of the interviews. These specially developed cells should, in future, enable curing of serious diseases such as the Parkinson's, Alzheimer's, diabetes or spinal cord injury. The work represents "...a major advance in stem cell research. It could help spur a medical revolution as important as antibiotics and vaccines," said Robert Lanza of Advanced Cell Technology (ACT), a company in Worcester, Mass., for Science Online, February 14, 2004. Transplantation medicine will change extensively due to these developments. The research in the Korean group is considered by themselves as purely therapeutic cloning, i.e. within the frame allowed by the governments of many countries, like Korea, UK or Israel - countries leading in stem cell research. In contrast to many positive comments to the current medical research, there has also been a serious concern worldwide with voices rising for the cloning to be outlawed. The news from Korea certainly made these voices even more determined. However, Shin Yong Moon, a co-author of the recently published study, said that the work must continue to help fighting threatening illnesses. He also said that a new law passed in Korea would require his and other Korean research groups to get a government licence before proceeding with their research. He also predicted that the medical use of stem cells derived from cloning would require at least another decade of research. The biomedical engineers have been developing enabling technology for many of the experiments in this field and won't be able to stay away from the discussions with the leading scientists in bioethics on this matter. Nevertheless most of us, when teaching our students, have to deal with these matters. In this issue, Prof. Dan Adam, the new chair of the Federation's Education and Accreditation Committee, writes about the challenges of biomedical engineering education in Israel. We also bring a report on the International Scientific Workshop and Postgraduate Course "Electroporation Based Technologies and Treatments", organised by Prof. Damijan Miklavcic and held at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia, in November 2003. This workshop dealt with electroporation, a process using high-voltage pulses to make cell membranes permeable and to allow the introduction of drugs to the cells eg. to treat cancer or the introduction of new DNA; commonly used in recombinant DNA technology. These aspects of cellular engineering, as well as its current and potential applications of electroporation in medicine, biology, biotechnology and environment were presented by a team of internationally recognized experts. Postgraduate studies in Europe are increasingly becoming more specific, since the educational space under the same European umbrella is getting reformed and harmonized. Are we going to see more and more of such joint workshops - courses in biomedical education, like the recent one in Ljubljana? Is such teaching about to become dominant? How will the students collect the ECTS points? Will this be adopted by other regions as well? The future of cellular engineering and its challenges are matters approached regularly in the Federation's Journal, MBEC, which also includes Cellular Engineering. In 2005, the Federation is going to co-organize the Third Cellular Engineering Conference in Seoul, Korea.
Ratko Magjarevic
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