|
|
Vicki Seyfert, Ph.D.
Chief, Immunoregulation Section, DAIT, NIAID
As part of an ongoing NIAID effort to integrate emerging technologies into biological research, Dr. Seyfert highlighted some newly developing technologies and how they can be applied to immunology and infectious disease research. These included micro/nanotechnology and new advances in imaging. Dr. Seyfert discussed how micro/nanotechnology is a rapidly growing field involving the engineering of surfaces, usually silicon chips, on a very small scale, 1 millimeter to below 1 micron and showed examples that can be used for biologic research, including gene chips, protein chips, chips for tissue engineering, and biosensors.
Micro/nanotechnology is also being exploited to engineer three-dimensional surfaces for directed growth of multiple cell types. This approach is being utilized for growing tissues or organs in vitro for potential use in transplantation. She also gave examples of advances in imaging technologies, which allow for visualization of cell movement in vivo in real time. Dr. Seyfert explained how these technologies could result in great advances in our understanding of the dynamics of the immune system. Following the presentation, Council discussed how NIAID can help make these emerging technologies more readily available and the need for increased communication and collaboration between biologists and engineers.
|