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An article in Technology Review this week describes how nanotechnology can detect cancer. When a person gets cancer, her body emits a warning signs long before modern medicine is capable of detecting the disease. If one could detect these subtle changes before in human cells, have a greater chance of saving the patient. But the first molecular-level changes in a person who is in the early stages of cancer are incredibly complex and can go unnoticed.
James Heath, a scientist at the California Institute of Technology, believes that nanotechnology could provide the molecular solution to this issue. Heath believes that sets of ultra small silicon wires, each made to detect a specific protein associated with cancer, could detect more subtle changes in
body chemistry of human beings.
These nanosensors are being developed by Heath and his team of researchers could find hundreds or even thousands of different biomolecules in a single drop of blood. If they work, these nanosensors could provide the basis of some tests for cancer that would be not only more accurate than the current ones, but cheaper and easier because it would involve tissue samples and laboratory analysis.
Most systems to detect cancer are quite primitive. Often simple physical examinations are used to detect tumor growth or imaging systems and X-ray mammograms. There are some blood tests for other cancers, such as prostate cancer or ovarian cancer, but these are not only costly and time consuming, but often unreliable.
A more reliable analysis of cancer would be one that reflects the complexity of bimolecular behavior. Heath plans to build devices that besides being able to perform multiple measurements from a drop of blood or a few cells taken from a tissue, were also able to detect very small amounts of biomolecules. "We intend to develop a test that can detect cancer through a simple finger stick, in the same way that diabetics can control the level of blood sugar by simply clicking finger to get a small amount of blood."
January 20th, 2012 at 7:36 am
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