JFS Biomimicry Interview Series: No.7 "Technologies Learned from Cells" - Interviewee : Dr. Keiji Fujimoto

JFS Newsletter No.32 (April 2005)
Technologies Learned from Living Things: Concepts and Examples - Front Line Reports

In collecting examples of technologies learned from nature, we find that they can be categorized according to the level at which the learning process takes place. For example, technology learned from the behavior of living things is the simplest to apprehend. It is more complicated to learn technologies from physical features and other structures of living things or from ecosystem processes. The most sophisticated level is learning from the chemical processes of living things. Further advances in life sciences and nanotechnology are leading to expectations that this kind of knowledge will be applied in a wide range of fields.

Unfortunately, however, this type of natural technology is difficult to understand without a detailed knowledge of chemistry. What is "learning from nature on the chemical level?" This month, we interviewed Dr. Keiji Fujimoto, an associate professor in the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University, who is dedicated to the research and teaching of biotechnology and bioscience. He told us about the difference between "artificial engineering" and "natural engineering," and possibilities for manufacturing based on learning from living creatures.

Q. What do "artificial engineering" and "natural engineering" mean? What is the significance for you of manufacturing based on learning from living things?

"Artificial engineering" indicates manufacturing methods that human beings have developed using mostly the so-called "top-down" approach; it usually involves transforming, processing, cutting down or combining materials. In the natural world, however, self-generated methods of "natural engineering" have developed over very long periods of time. Tissues and organs of living things develop in a "bottom-up" way, that is, they are self-organized and self-assembled.

If manufacturing could be carried out using this kind of self-organization process, we could dramatically decrease energy consumption in manufacturing structural products. From this perspective, our studies simply seek to answer questions about how we should understand the structures of living things and how we might utilize them for "artificial engineering." We do not regard engineered products as the only achievements of our study.

Note: Natural Polymer
A polymer is a covalent molecule consisting of a great number of atoms. For example, living things are made up of natural polymers (biopolymers) bonded together with thousands of molecules such as cellulose, protein, and nucleic acid. They effectively come together and combine to fulfill a variety of functions. In addition, most of these molecules are easily decomposed and recycled.

Q. What led you to this perspective?

As a university student I was interested in medicine and did research on better materials for making artificial hearts and joints. The biggest challenge was improving bio-compatibility. While patients had high expectations regarding artificial hearts and joints, we just couldn't meet this challenge and experienced a number of failures.

While experiencing these setbacks, I was reminded that each living organism has every reason to be a discrete and unique organism. There is a very good reason why living bodies do not recognize their organs and cells as foreign objects. Looking at the bio-materials that make up the bodies of living things, we find that they have marvelous systems and programs, such as self-organization, self-multiplication, positive feedback, adaptation (learning), niche and contingency systems. These kinds of functions have never been achieved in the field of artificial engineering so far. It occurred to me that humankind would eventually need to develop a new way of manufacturing by applying these principles.

Q. What exactly is "learning from living things" on the chemical level? Can you give us a simple explanation?

Different people learn from nature at different levels. In chemistry, we study the structure of atoms and molecules, and specifically look at their chemical bonds and the state of their electrons. The differences between biological materials and artificial materials lie in the composition of their atoms and molecules, and their behavior after they are combined. Actually, atoms and molecules, the smallest elements of life, are not static, but are always in a dynamic state. They are also in a dynamic state at the organism level; for example, cell regeneration is not possible without dynamic interactions with the surrounding environment, so cells that are even partially removed from the body cannot regenerate.

Figuratively speaking, the life processes are like various plays performed simultaneously at different theaters that are linked in a network-like fashion. In this sense, what kind of interaction is going on among molecules? In order to discover this kind of information and learn how to use it, we try to put in a twist or change the situation, just as stage directors do. In short, we conduct experiments to test living reactions when the surrounding environment is materially changed.

Through this kind of research, we can discover the technological principles that living organisms naturally use. For example, you know a gecko lizard can cling to the wall upside down without falling off. Last year scientists discovered that this sticking power results from an intermolecular force of attraction between the wall surface and the gecko's toes, which are covered with innumerable tiny hairs.

Manufacturing often uses attraction between two objects. Various principles of gravity have been applied, especially on the millimeter to meter scale. Intermolecular forces are known to contribute to the assembly, interaction or realignment of objects in micro- or nano-engineering.

I received a research grant in 2002 from the Sekisui Nature-Tech Foundation Program of the Sekisui Chemical Co., and since then I have committed myself to the study of "the composition of flexible histo-structural systems assembled by nanoparticles and the development of nano-devices". By studying self-assembly systems in human tissues and cells, I hope to create flexible but durable structures similar to living tissue and composed of nano-particles. In this context, my research now includes studies of communication between cells and protein structures.

Q. What is needed for further development of Biomimicry research in future? Do you have a message for other scientists and companies?

My field is located somewhere in between biology and chemistry, and my ambition is to do pioneering basic research related to the engineering aspect of manufacturing goods. Many of my graduate students go on to work in the engineering field at companies. In view of this, I feel it would be nice to have more interaction and feedback on the research from these companies. This would allow us to contribute to a kind of engineering that is grounded in chemistry learned from Nature.

At the same time, I would like academics in the biological sciences to do research that sheds light on the many workings of the diverse world of living things, rather than focus exclusively on topics related to genomes or post-genomes. Not everything can be explained by the genome-I believe that the living world is richer and more wonderful than that, and I think it is also the task of biologists to communicate these wonders to us in a comprehensible manner. This would help other researchers introduce various aspects of biology into the studies we are performing from the perspective of our own fields. Meeting people from outside our own particular field can also be inspirational.

In order to create a more sustainable society, I believe that we need to make wider and better use of natural polymers. In fact, there are on-going initiatives to develop automobile bumpers from biological resources; specifically, polymer molecules from corn rather than petroleum. Fundamentally speaking, natural polymers are a biological resource derived from living materials. They can be found everywhere, and are renewable, unlike petroleum. We need technologies which do not waste resources as present-day technologies do, and which produce either no waste or waste that can be discarded without any major treatment concerns.

Perhaps even more important is the change in the attitude of engineers that can occur when they comprehend these processes. They can acquire more modesty with respect to Nature, and may come to think that they should not make certain materials even if it is possible. My hope is that an on-going process of consideration and discussion about science and technology will take place in society at large, and that people will gain a natural understanding of these things. I think that my research will have been meaningful if people eventually regard chemistry research as nothing special but rather as just one of the many activities human beings are pursuing.

(Interviewer: Kazunori Kobayashi, JFS Staff Writer)

*This interview series is supported by the Hitachi Environmental Foundation.