Molecular “Eat Now” Sign Makes Cells Devour Dying Neighbors

A team of researchers has devised a Pac-Man-style power pellet that gets normally mild-mannered cells to gobble up their undesirable neighbors. The development may point the way to therapies that enlist patients’ own cells to better fend off infection and even cancer, the researchers say.

A description of the work was published July 15 in the journal Science Signaling.

“Our goal is to build artificial cells programmed to eat up dangerous junk…