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Nanobiomechanics studies the mechanics of living cells, which can help predict and analyze macro-scale properties. Subra Suresh measured the physical properties of malaria-infected red blood cells, which were 10 times stiffer than healthy cells. Nanobiomechanics can aid in understanding and treating diseases, designing nanoscale implants, and creating efficient and natural implants with minimal rejection.
“Nanobiomechanics” is a relatively rarely used word to describe the mechanics of living cells in action. The prefix “nano” is a bit of a buzzword, because the relevant length scales of living cells are measured in micrometers, not nanometers, although some of the relevant forces occur at the nanometer scale. Since cells are the building blocks of all living things, understanding their nanobiomechanics is useful for predicting and analyzing their macro-scale properties.
A researcher in nanobiomechanics, Subra Suresh, materials scientist at MIT, is a pioneer in applying nanoscale measurement to living cells. In one experiment, he measured the difference in physical properties between healthy red blood cells and red blood cells infected with malaria parasites. Using tiny sensors capable of measuring forces as small as a piconewton (one trillionth of a newton), Suresh determined that malaria-infected red blood cells were 10 times stiffer than healthy red blood cells, three to four times stiffer than estimated in precedence. The nanobiomechanics of these cells are important because stiff cells can clog capillaries, causing brain hemorrhages.
Researchers hope that nanobiomechanics will help us learn more about certain diseases and produce new treatments or cures for them. Malaria is one target, others are muscular dystrophy, cardiovascular disease, liver and pancreatic cancer and sickle cell anemia. In each of these diseases, individual cells show changes in physical properties that can theoretically be measured to better understand the disease.
Nanobiomechanics may also play a role in the design of new nanoscale materials or devices intended to be implanted into the human body, such as pacemakers, prosthetic limbs, or more futuristic implants such as hippocampal replacements. Current human implants are usually not structured at the nanoscale, as our knowledge of beneficial designs at this scale is limited due to insufficient investigation. In the long term, the researchers hope that nanobiomechanics can be used to create implants that blend so well with the human body that the chance of rejection is close to zero, and the implants are as efficient and natural as the organs themselves.
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