Page 33 - AWSAR 2.0

functions of the liver such as the synthesis of albumin protein and enzymes. Our results showed that these liver functions were better when the cells were grown on our gel in comparison to traditional two-dimensional surfaces. The gene expression (analysis at the DNA level) reflected similar improvement, which further confirmed the superiority of gel over a plane surface. We had achieved an important milestone.
Our work recaptured closest-to-natural conditions for liver cells outside the body. Liver cells in our gels acted and functioned the way they did in the body. This was a significant step in the designing of fabricated gels. These gels opened doors for pharmaceutical companies to test their potential medicines. And, they guaranteed the test results to be similar to those generated in the body. Just think from the perspective of a young researcher waiting for his/her new molecules to be tested on the liver.
He/she will not have to wait for animals to breed, reach an age at which they can be experimented upon, do multiple tests, sacrifice them, and cut open the liver to perform more tests. He/she can now directly proceed to perform all experiments on artificially grown liver on fabricated gels. Our young scientist has just saved a lot of animals by preferring to use gel-liver over the animal liver. How many animals, you may ask?
Dr Joyita Sarkar || 9
One arm of experiment = 6 animals
Number of arms per experiment = minimum two (control and test)
To remove gender-based bias in an experiment = two (male and female)
Approximate animals to be used = 6 × 2 × 2 = 24
To prevent the loss of time due to the sudden death of an experimental animal owing to uncertain events, each arm of the experiment is given an additional three animals.
This comes to 9 × 2 × 2 = 36 animals.
Thirty-six! This is the requirement for one experiment. Just one! Phew! Quite a heavy feeling if I have to test a new molecule for disease treatment in animals.
My conscious could not feel better, but now, with the development of this gel, I can save many more animals.
The year 2034 – here I come.
Our research team includes Dr. Swapnil
Kamble (Department of Technology, SPPU, Pune), Dr. Rajendra Patil (Department of Biotechnology, SPPU, Pune), Prof. Ashok Kumar (Department of Biological Sciences and Bioengineering, IIT Kanpur), and Prof. Suresh Gosavi (Department of Physics, SPPU, Pune). This is an original and unpublished article. A report on this work is under consideration for publication in the journal Biotechnology and Bioengineering (John Wiley & Sons) and has been selected for the presentation in an international conference.
After a lot of experiments, we finally fabricated a three- dimensional gel using a known nontoxic polymer – poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide). However, cells could not bind to it. So, we added cell-friendly gelatin to allow liver cells to attach. Thus, gelatin supported liver cell growth, while poly (N-isopropyl acrylamide) provided infrastructural support.