Nanotechnology vs cancer!

[Vorago]

http://gizmodo.com/5501103/this-is-t...against-cancer


Pretty interesting stuff

[DudeistMonk]

I read this yesterday, sounds super promising...I wonder why its not huge news?

[iamlowsound]

Now that is cool!

lowsound

[dj150888]

Originally Posted by DudeistMonk

I read this yesterday, sounds super promising...I wonder why its not huge news?

Because of the nature of the research, actually putting it into practice, if everything went perfectly, would still take ten years.

The article itself is only the latest step in years upon years of research and the actual advancements made have been much slower than that article would have you believe. The other problem is that the article doesn't give any indication of HOW successful the initial trial was. Did they use $5million worth of these nanopolymers to achieve a 1% reduction in tumour size or did they use $5 worth to achieve an 80% reduction in tumour size? There still isn't nearly enough information there to either make big news or get people's hopes up.

If and when it reaches full clinical trials, it could be big news, but its just one of a thousand different techniques and ideas for cancer treatment at that research stage.

If you're interested in this kind of thing, I could grab a couple of articles out of a few Chemistry World issues, scan them and email them to you?

[DudeistMonk]

Originally Posted by dj150888

Because of the nature of the research, actually putting it into practice, if everything went perfectly, would still take ten years.

The article itself is only the latest step in years upon years of research and the actual advancements made have been much slower than that article would have you believe. The other problem is that the article doesn't give any indication of HOW successful the initial trial was. Did they use $5million worth of these nanopolymers to achieve a 1% reduction in tumour size or did they use $5 worth to achieve an 80% reduction in tumour size? There still isn't nearly enough information there to either make big news or get people's hopes up.

If and when it reaches full clinical trials, it could be big news, but its just one of a thousand different techniques and ideas for cancer treatment at that research stage.

If you're interested in this kind of thing, I could grab a couple of articles out of a few Chemistry World issues, scan them and email them to you?

Probably a bit above my head the only things I really know about micro-biology are what I read in an evolutionary context through Richard Dawkins.

It just seemed so simple, attach some medication to a protein, let said protein do its thing, should be cheap and effective.

[dj150888]

Originally Posted by DudeistMonk

Probably a bit above my head the only things I really know about micro-biology are what I read in an evolutionary context through Richard Dawkins.

It just seemed so simple, attach some medication to a protein, let said protein do its thing, should be cheap and effective.

It'd be fantastic if it really was so simple, but the problem with nanotechnology is that it often doesn't behave in the ways we'd predict. It really is a fascinating field and theres a lot of jargon-free articles out there that you can read up if you're interested. Sometimes you lose a little through simplification, but you get a very large part of the picture with whats really going on.

[FL Knifemaker]

The good news is, we've cured your cancer. That bad news is you've been assimilated, resistance was futile!!

[MakiSupaStar]

Nice.

[RWP]

Little mechanical bugs are cool.

[Gopherbassist]

Originally Posted by DudeistMonk

I read this yesterday, sounds super promising...I wonder why its not huge news?

Because there are a number of organizations that do not want a cure for cancer. Watch this doesn't pan out for some reason.

Originally Posted by FL Knifemaker

The good news is, we've cured your cancer. That bad news is you've been assimilated, resistance was futile!!

That actually is how the Borg were supposed to have started, so let's see where this ends up.

[FL Knifemaker]

Originally Posted by RWP

Little mechanical bugs are cool.

Well hell! So are big ones

[drteeth]

Neat!

[jazzbo]

Does anyone have the citation for the original article? Which journal?

[P. Aaron]

Six months ago, I would've said: Cool!

After October, I am hopeful that it may work for me...eventually.

Let the trials commence!

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Not really new research, interesting tho. Did my honours thesis on the applications of nanotechnology in the life sciences (mainly around cancer treatments) and a MSc in Nanotechnology.

I wouldn't keep my fingers crossed sadly, even if it does come to fruition, it won't be for another decade at least. Too many other issues with nanoparticles. Drug delivery stuff is pretty cool tho. It's a pity cadmium selenide quantum dots are so damned difficult to get rid off and toxic to everything. They showed some promising results in cancer treatments

[coreyfyfe]

Not to slight your field of research mohawk but I've always been wary of nanoparticles as a treatment regimen. They have some cool stuff going on with nanoparticle research, but in terms of a cost effective and robust treatment there are so many variables to this type of work that I think it's going to be a long time before it's figured out. Not to mention the fact that the same type of treatment can and is being done using targeted liposomes (albeit with a higher likelihood of degradation prior to recognition/delivery).

Jazzbo it's in Nature (subs. req.):
http://www.nature.com/nature/journal...ture08956.html

[machine gewehr]

Thats cool,I love the idea of nano-sized robots.

Also gives me a relief on my 2 pacs a day smoking as of late...

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Coreyfyfe, you aren't slating my field of research at all. I followed the interest in nanotechnology, but like I said, I agree, I can't see it coming to anything in the near future. Tho, if you want to be picky, a lot of liposome based delivery systems are within the nanotechnology (and certainly the microtechnology) regime . Liposomes are great for a number of reasons, my favorite being that they are just made up of a simple lipid bilayer and so are easily broken down when used with next to no negative effects .

Another interesting, and somewhat simpler cancer treatment that would be nice to see work out. Using colloidal gold coated with polyethylene glycol. They get taken up by cancer cells much much more readily than by healthy cells. Apply some localised IR and burn the cancer cells out of existance with next to no damage to surrounding tissues

I used my biochem background, plus the physics background (from nanotech) to go into Biophotonics. Plenty of relevant uses there, tho, sadly not much to do with cancer!

[i_got_a_mohawk]

Also, Jazzbo, there are hoards of papers out there on this and similar treatments.

While not my best piece of work, not by a long shot. Can send people a copy of my undergrad thesis on the subject if they are interested in a general overview and a pile of supporting references.

[drteeth]

Originally Posted by machine gewehr

Thats cool,I love the idea of nano-sized robots.

Also gives me a relief on my 2 pacs a day smoking as of late...

In 10 years, we'll have nano-cleanup crews to take care of your lungs