Using Microfluidics to Create Hybrid Cellular Bionic Systems

Fusing the artificial to the biological at the cellular level has moved beyond the realm of science fiction and into laboratories of reality, as a team of investigators at the Imperial College London has fused living and nonliving cells for the first time in a way that allows them to work together. The new cellular system encapsulates biological cells within an artificial cell. Using this, researchers can harness the natural ability of biological cells to process chemicals while protecting them