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Main Authors: Ntetsikas, Nikolaos, Kyriakoudi, Styliana, Kirmizis, Antonis, Unluturk, Bige Deniz, Pitsillides, Andreas, Akyildiz, Ian F., Lestas, Marios
Format: Preprint
Published: 2024
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Online Access:https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.13712
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author Ntetsikas, Nikolaos
Kyriakoudi, Styliana
Kirmizis, Antonis
Unluturk, Bige Deniz
Pitsillides, Andreas
Akyildiz, Ian F.
Lestas, Marios
author_facet Ntetsikas, Nikolaos
Kyriakoudi, Styliana
Kirmizis, Antonis
Unluturk, Bige Deniz
Pitsillides, Andreas
Akyildiz, Ian F.
Lestas, Marios
contents Although continuous advances in theoretical modelling of Molecular Communications (MC) are observed, there is still an insuperable gap between theory and experimental testbeds, especially at the microscale. In this paper, the development of the first testbed incorporating engineered yeast cells is reported. Different from the existing literature, eukaryotic yeast cells are considered for both the sender and the receiver, with α-factor molecules facilitating the information transfer. The use of such cells is motivated mainly by the well understood biological mechanism of yeast mating, together with their genetic amenability. In addition, recent advances in yeast biosensing establish yeast as a suitable detector and a neat interface to in-body sensor networks. The system under consideration is presented first, and the mathematical models of the underlying biological processes leading to an end-to-end (E2E) system are given. The experimental setup is then described and used to obtain experimental results which validate the developed mathematical models. Beyond that, the ability of the system to effectively generate output pulses in response to repeated stimuli is demonstrated, reporting one event per two hours. However, fast RNA fluctuations indicate cell responses in less than three minutes, demonstrating the potential for much higher rates in the future.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2401_13712
institution arXiv
publishDate 2024
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Engineering Yeast Cells to Facilitate Information Exchange
Ntetsikas, Nikolaos
Kyriakoudi, Styliana
Kirmizis, Antonis
Unluturk, Bige Deniz
Pitsillides, Andreas
Akyildiz, Ian F.
Lestas, Marios
Emerging Technologies
Information Theory
Molecular Networks
94-08, 94-05
Although continuous advances in theoretical modelling of Molecular Communications (MC) are observed, there is still an insuperable gap between theory and experimental testbeds, especially at the microscale. In this paper, the development of the first testbed incorporating engineered yeast cells is reported. Different from the existing literature, eukaryotic yeast cells are considered for both the sender and the receiver, with α-factor molecules facilitating the information transfer. The use of such cells is motivated mainly by the well understood biological mechanism of yeast mating, together with their genetic amenability. In addition, recent advances in yeast biosensing establish yeast as a suitable detector and a neat interface to in-body sensor networks. The system under consideration is presented first, and the mathematical models of the underlying biological processes leading to an end-to-end (E2E) system are given. The experimental setup is then described and used to obtain experimental results which validate the developed mathematical models. Beyond that, the ability of the system to effectively generate output pulses in response to repeated stimuli is demonstrated, reporting one event per two hours. However, fast RNA fluctuations indicate cell responses in less than three minutes, demonstrating the potential for much higher rates in the future.
title Engineering Yeast Cells to Facilitate Information Exchange
topic Emerging Technologies
Information Theory
Molecular Networks
94-08, 94-05
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2401.13712