What was once the stuff of science fiction is now becoming a reality: entire organs may soon be “healed” by simply touching a small chip. Share on Pinterest

This small device uses tissue nanotransfection to regenerate full organs at the touch of a finger.

Image credit: The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center A team of researchers from the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center and Ohio State’s College of Engineering, both in Columbus, developed a groundbreaking technology that could soon restore almost any organ. The device changes cell function in a non-invasive way. It relies on a type of nanotechnology called tissue nanotransfection, which can reprogram living adult cells into any other type of cell. The new study was published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, and the research was jointly led by Dr. Chandan Sen, who is director of Ohio State’s Center for Regenerative Medicine and Cell-Based Therapies, and L. James Lee, a professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering at Ohio State’s College of Engineering.

How the technology works The breakthrough technology relies on two main elements, and the first one is the chip itself. Using nanotechnology, the scientists designed the device so that it could inject a so-called genetic load into the body’s cells. The second element is the genetic load itself: the chip carries a specific genetic code in the form of DNA or RNA, which, when applied to cells, changes them from their previous structure and function to the structure and functions needed to repair the injury. The video below shows the device in action. As the study authors explain, the reprogramming factors are delivered into the cell using a “highly intense and focused electric field through arrayed nanochannels.” In other words, the chip is placed onto the skin and with a simple touch, a small and nearly imperceptible electrical current forges channels into the tissue. The DNA or RNA is sent through these nanochannels and starts to reprogram the cells, giving them a new “identity.” As Dr. Sen explains, “It takes just a fraction of a second. You simply touch the chip to the wounded area, then remove it. At that point, the cell reprogramming begins.”