Photos Getting the Bad Guys
April 14, 2008 -- A new nanodevice loaded with powerful cancer-killing drugs can operate inside a living cell to zap cancer cells in response to light. The nanomachine, created by researchers in California, is called a nanoimpeller and is the first of its kind. "We have developed a machine to deliver the cancer drugs only in the cancer cells and not normal cells," said Fuyuhiko Tamanoi, a study author and scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. The nanoimpellers are actually tubes made of light-sensative silica. When light strikes the silica, tiny tails on the inside of the tubes wag back and forth, creating a current that propels the drugs out of their cyllindrical home. The more light is directed at the silica, the more drugs they deliver. For initial tests the researchers loaded their nanomachines with camptothecin, a chemotherapy drug commonly used to treat pancreatic and colon cancer. The nanoparticles were then injected into human cancer cells in vitro and taken up in the dark. Small Device Enhances Drug Delivery |
advertisement
Put Discovery News on Your Site!Related News Feeds
Discovery News Widget
Download the widget to your site, then choose your favorite news feeds. It's easy! 
Discovery News Video
Our reporters get out and about with scientists in the field ... and the occasional animal or two. 
RSS Feeds
Get all Discovery News top stories in text or video. Or choose from eight subject areas. 
Discovery News Podcasts
Stay on top of the latest Discovery News in text and video, including Friday News Feedbag and top breakthroughs. 
|
-
our sites
-
video
mobile
-
shop
-
stay connected
-
corporate
