IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - September/October 2021 - 55

audience, in particular, when popular mass media
reports the recent discoveries in science with little
or no research details, accompanied with a bombastic
title and a futuristic photo to illustrate the
article. A clear picture of the limits also includes a
clear picture of the problem or the correct question.
Merging the disciplines into the one research
question may be harder than expected if the ultimate
goals per each discipline are not well
matchedwith the desired result of the project.
Legal aspects add dimensions to the deployment
of results, which may be in the essence of
where the technology is heading. Medical technologymay
be a difference between life and death, but
also a bar on the quality of life. The medical application
consequences imply a higher level of responsibility,
and as such, more legal and ethical
restrictions. Golden medical standards may result
in a higher price tag for technology. A limited number
of operators, in particular, if a high level of
expertise is required, results in a limited number of
places where the services may beoffered. The rules
are a bit looser for the wellness applications. Thus,
wellness may be a back door for the fast track of
the health technology deployment, if well ethically
conditioned.
BREWING THE CELLS
It is more evident by the day that synthetic biology
is on the path from art to industry, in particular,
in genetics. The CRISPR technology unlocked the
unseen possibilities. On the dark side, the mechanisms
in this industry are not completely understood,
which manifests in the expected results-we
are still shy from regenerating in vivo body parts
and putting together all puzzle pieces of how a salamander
regenerates its tale. On the bright side,
although you can buy a kitchen lab gene editing kit,
it does not go that fast, and it is not easy to replicate
or go further even with a high level of expertise. So
we are not going to see dramatic changes from
home labs just yet. However, we can see the resemblance
between kitchen and garage startups. Learning
from the past-when enthusiasts take things in
their hands-gene editing may soon become a consumer
technology. How silicon- or graphene-based
technology, with multilayered boards, can help to
speed this up? Hint keywords may be " digital " or
" AI " as in artificial intelligence. We will assume that
September/October 2021
Figure 1. Platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is harvested
from a small blood sample using a device that
resembles a food processor.3 Will future kitchen
appliances include medical robots to collect
biosamples and a " food processor " for home lab
gene editing? Are the future cookbooks going to
include a chapter or two on gene editing, and are we
going to see more book covers like the one imagined
in this figure? Ste(e)ming the cook. Pun intended.
the role of the abovementioned keywords is selfexplanatory,
and we will suggest another-a
" multipractic " in a shape of a food processor or a
blender, for stem cells-again, no pun intended.
Before we proceed any further, let's go back to
basics-a stem cell. With no focus on details, it is a
cell capable of transforming into any cell. The stem
cell is like a joker card, a unit building block, or a
master key. Note that there are differences among
types of stem cells. For the sake of simplicity, we
will adopt this generalized definition. The problem
is to extract a stem cell in a nonmedical environment.
Not just from any tissue-but easily accessible,
like hair for example. Although, in theory, any
cell canbe reversedback to a stemstage, it is a complex
task to accomplish, in particular, with no adequate
equipment or a proper understanding of the
actions. Another problem is to " push " the stem cell
into the desired role. The importance of stem cells
is in their regenerative properties. In wellness, that
is a door to youthfulness. If science can teach us
how to add stem cells to facial creams to boost collagen
production, are we heading to a technology
for a " food processor " that will enable the production
of stem cells for wellness or cosmetic purposes
in the domestic environment? See Figure 1. Do we
need to wait for all things to settle-such as
legal, in vivo research, and stabilization of
stem cell applications? Or we can start experimenting
in our kitchen to deploy and release
consumer-ready technology when the social
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IEEE Consumer Electronics Magazine - September/October 2021

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