• Unravelling genetic mysteries"DNA Molecule display, Oxford University" is Copyrighted by Flickr user: net_efekt (Christian Guthier) under the Creative Commons Attribution license.
  
  

Significance

• The advancements in the field of controlled cell growth will affect both medical and computer science. The new technologies stemming from this field will have a significant impact on genetics, diagnostics, disease treatments and even computer technology. Researchers are working to perfect the integration of living cells into new technologies, and each advancement results in the development of more sensitive, more complex instruments.
  
  

Methods

• Scientists use laser technology to plate cells onto micro-fabricated surfaces. They then study how various surface topographies affect the cell orientation and how the cells deposit on the surface. By learning more about the cells' behavior, scientists can manipulate and control the cells with the ultimate goal of creating new, better technologies.
  
  

Implications

• In medical science, controlled cell growth will affect diagnostics by making it possible to create miniaturized, highly accurate biosensors that can enter the body and analyze its condition. Such technology will allow for highly specific, highly localized diagnoses.
  
  Medical researchers also expect to be able to manipulate DNA using technology that stems from controlled cell growth. Being able to alter DNA sequencing could help to correct many debilitating or fatal genetic diseases.
  
  In computer sciences, tissue engineering will advance the creation of bio-computers capable of storing far more data in much less space.
  
  

Potential

• Controlled cell growth promises to improve the accuracy and specificity of instruments in many important fields. The research and experimentation that scientists are doing now will ultimately result in better, faster diagnostics, more options in treating some of the most devastating hereditary diseases, and even more capable computers.
  
  

Considerations

• The field of controlled cell growth is still in its infancy. At this time the applications are limited to cellular-based biosensors used to detect pathogens, drugs or toxins. That will change in the future, though. Advancements in the fields of genetics, bioengineering and bio-technology often carry with them difficult ethical questions. They force us to examine the definition of life and to determine if the enhancements we are making to living beings are beneficial and warranted or if they carry unintended consequences that could be difficult for our culture to bear.
  
  As we examine these questions, it is difficult to deny the exciting potential of the field of controlled cell growth.