0

WHY THIS MATTERS IN BRIEF

Tomorrow’s medical treatments won’t necessarily just include new fancy drugs, nanomachines and nanobots will play an increasingly important role in helping us all stay fit, healthy, and alive…

 

Researchers in the UK and the US recently demonstrated single-molecule nanomachines that can independently target diseased cells and then kill them, once activated, by drilling through their cell membranes. Developed by a team at Rice University, Durham University, and North Carolina State University, the single-molecule nanomotors are about one-billionth of a meter wide and spin at 2 to 3 million rotations per second, activated by ultraviolet light, and can also be used to deliver drug treatments  directly into the cells themselves, to augment, help or kill them as the case may be.

 

RELATED
DeepMinds new AI designed a new algorithm to speed up global computing

 

“These nanomachines are so small that we could park 50,000 of them across the diameter of a human hair, yet they have the targeting and actuating components combined in that diminutive package to make molecular machines a reality for treating disease,” Tour said, before adding, “we thought it might be possible to attach these nanomachines to the cell membrane and then turn them on to see what happened.”

 

Watch them go

 

The motors, only about a nanometer wide, can be designed to target and then either tunnel through a cell’s lipid bilayer membrane to deliver drugs or other payloads or disrupt the 8-10 nanometer-wide membrane, thereby killing the cell. They can also be functionalised for solubility and for fluorescent tracking, he said.

The researchers found it takes at least a minute for a motor to tunnel through a membrane.

“It is highly unlikely that a cell could develop a resistance to molecular mechanical action,” Tour said.

 

RELATED
Healthcare breakthrough turns bacteria into cyborgs and drug factories

 

Pal expects nanomachines will help target cancers like breast tumours and melanomas that resist existing chemotherapy.

“Once developed, this approach could provide a potential step change in noninvasive cancer treatment and greatly improve survival rates and patient welfare globally,” he said.

The Pal lab at Durham tested their nanomachines on live cells, including human prostate cancer cells, and experiments showed that without an ultraviolet trigger, the small machines could still locate specific cells of interest but stayed on the targeted cells’ surface and were unable to drill into the cells. When triggered, however, the motors rapidly drilled through the membranes and into the cells. Not only does this, admittedly first stage experiment, hold great promise in the treatment of diseases but I’m also going to wager that there are a lot of people out there that hopes this type of technology doesn’t end up int he wrong hands…

 

Source: RICE

About author

Matthew Griffin

Matthew Griffin, described as “The Adviser behind the Advisers” and a “Young Kurzweil,” is the founder and CEO of the World Futures Forum and the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures consultancy working between the dates of 2020 to 2070, and is an award winning futurist, and author of “Codex of the Future” series. Regularly featured in the global media, including AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, RT, Viacom, and WIRED, Matthew’s ability to identify, track, and explain the impacts of hundreds of revolutionary emerging technologies on global culture, industry and society, is unparalleled. Recognised for the past six years as one of the world’s foremost futurists, innovation and strategy experts Matthew is an international speaker who helps governments, investors, multi-nationals and regulators around the world envision, build and lead an inclusive, sustainable future. A rare talent Matthew’s recent work includes mentoring Lunar XPrize teams, re-envisioning global education and training with the G20, and helping the world’s largest organisations envision and ideate the future of their products and services, industries, and countries. Matthew's clients include three Prime Ministers and several governments, including the G7, Accenture, Aon, Bain & Co, BCG, Credit Suisse, Dell EMC, Dentons, Deloitte, E&Y, GEMS, Huawei, JPMorgan Chase, KPMG, Lego, McKinsey, PWC, Qualcomm, SAP, Samsung, Sopra Steria, T-Mobile, and many more.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *