Scientists grow cells on a robot skeleton (but don’t know what to do with them yet)

Image: Fisher Studios

Only the simplest lab-grown cells can be used in experimental treatments today, as the science of tissue engineering is still in its infancy. Researchers say a new method of tissue engineering could improve the quality of work by growing cells on a robot skeleton.

Cells used in this type of medicine are usually grown in static environments. Think about petri dishes and scaffolds. Some experiments have shown that cells can be grown on moving structures, but they have only stretched or bent the tissue in a single direction. The researchers from the University of Oxford and Devanthro thought that it would be better to recreate their natural environment than to grow matter that is designed to move and flex. They decided to make a representation of a mobile human body.

Growing cells in an actual person creates all sorts of difficulties, so the cross-disciplinary team decided to approximate the human musculoskeletal system as best they could using a robot. They adapted an open-source robot skeleton designed by the engineers at Devanthro and created a custom growing environment for the cells that can be fitted into the skeleton to bend and flex. Growing environments are known as bioreactors.

The robot's shoulder joint had to be upgraded to more accurately approximate our own movements after they chose the site for tissue agriculture. Then, they created a bioreactor that could be fitted into the robot's shoulder, consisting of strings of biodegradable filaments stretched between two anchor points, with the entire structure enclosed within a balloon-like outer membrane.

Image: Fisher Studios

The chamber was filled with a liquid designed to encourage growth. The cells were grown for two weeks and enjoyed a daily workout. For 30 minutes each day, the bioreactor was put into the shoulder and waggled about in a very scientific manner.

While the team observed changes in the exercising cells that were different from those grown in a static environment, they aren't sure yet if those changes were any good.

The lead researcher on the project, Pierre-Alexis Mouthuy of the University of Oxford's Botnar Institute of Musculoskeletal Sciences, told The Verge that the differences he and his colleagues observed in the cells grown this way were based on measuring the activity.

We get differences out of the loading regime, but do those differences mean better cells? We don't know yet. There is a motion that is better than the others. We are just showing feasibility.

The team has shown that it is possible to grow cells in a robot skeleton. They need to find out if it's worth it. The researchers enjoyed some optimism about the potential of this line of work. In the future, scans of patients could be used to create replicas of their bodies, allowing tissue to be grown for surgeries in a human replica.

It's back to the drawing board, or at least the robot skeleton. We need to do a lot more work to understand what's going on.