Scientists have created a school of robot fish that uses human heart cells to propel them through the water.
Harvard University researchers made a bio-hybrid zebrafish using plastic, paper, gelatin, and two strips of the live heart muscle.
Researchers detailed their study, titled "An Autonomously Swimming Biohybrid Fish Designed With Human Cardiac Biophysics," in the journal Science.
A zebrafish, which shares a similar genetic structure to humans, is seen in a fishbowl during a press conference by Kelvin Leung at the Baptist University in Hong Kong on October 4, 2018, on his research which found that UV filters commonly used in sunscreen are polluting surrounding waters and could endanger human health. - New research in Hong Kong has found that UV filters commonly used in sunscreen are polluting surrounding waters and could endanger human health, one of the city's leading universities said on October 4.
Robot Fish Can Swim With the Help of Human Heart Cells
Because one strip of muscle is on the left side of the fish's body and the other is on the right, when one side contracts, the other stretches, causing the tail fin to move in a swimming motion.
Kit Parker, a Harvard professor of bioengineering and applied physics, told Daily Beast that he is passionate about children's heart ailments.
He added he wants to do life-changing research by creating a tissue-engineered heart for a youngster with a damaged heart.
Parker's team extracted human heart cells, or cardiomyocytes, from stem cells to generate their 'biohybrid' fish.
The heart cells overlay the biohybrids' tails, and the team of scientists lets them swim freely in a tank of nutrition for nearly 100 days.
Researchers tracked the travels of the biohybrid fishes throughout those days.
The fishes could also regulate their mobility using light.
According to NPR, the scientists opted to test lab-grown heart cells in robotic fish since swimming and beating are comparable.
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The fishes, according to Parker, are pumping in some respects.
However, it does not pump blood through the body; instead, it pumps itself through the water.
The term "biohybrid" refers to the combination of live cells and synthetic materials created from living materials that serve as devices or components of more or less unique technology.
Parker created Medusoid, an artificial jellyfish that utilizes a rat's heart, in 2012.
According to Harvard, the researchers want to develop an artificial jellyfish that can be rotated and moved in specific directions, as well as turn on a simple "brain."
This feature would allow the species to react to their surroundings and perform more complex actions, such as movement, towards a light source, to aid in the future search for energy or food.
Future of Pacemakers
Parker said in a CNET report that their findings of this research provide the framework for the construction of an artificial heart as a short-term goal.
This may help enhance the technology of a pacemaker. This tiny device generally utilizes electrical impulses to manage a damaged heart.
For example, cultivated fish tissue might construct a biological pacemaker that develops with the human body.
This is particularly true for kids who need these gadgets.
Despite the latest research leading to a novel artificial pediatric heart next year, Parker and his colleagues are already working on three-dimensional artificial cardiac tissue projects and recreating the chambers that make up a human heart.
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