Nanotechnology represents the future of personalised medicine, especially in treating diseases like cancer, says a top Swiss researcher in the field. What can the technology do, and how close does it come to science fiction scenarios?
For some, the term “nano” conjures strange scenarios out of science fiction. But nanoscience simply refers to a technique for manipulating particles on a “nano” scale, such as molecular. Rather than scaring us, the technology should give us hope, argues Cornelia PalivanExternal link, Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Basel and a member of the Swiss Institute of Nanotechnology.
SWI swissinfo.ch: Do you think the scenario presented in this science fiction story is likely, and that nanotechnology injected into the human body could somehow take over and manipulate a person?
Cornelia Palivan: I would say not. We are very, very far from that scenario. So-called “nanobots” are science fiction for the moment – something fascinating, but remaining surreal. One might reflect, at most, on the danger of engineering nanoparticles containing toxic compounds, or of potentially lethal chemical and biological weapons being developed by governments, but we are talking about poisons here and that has nothing to do with size. The label “nano” does not define a technology as good or bad, but instead identifies a way of solving problems at a molecular level. This can be extremely useful, especially in medicine.
SWI: How so? What does it mean to develop nanotechnology today?
C.P.: My research group and I are working on the implementation of nanotechnology in various fields, from medicine to ecology and food science. We are doing this through the development of so-called “bio-hybrid materials”, obtained by combining biomolecules – such as proteins and enzymes – with synthetic materials in very small quantities. We are talking about nano-scale compartments (very small capsules) that do not exceed 100 nanometres in radius and within which we encapsulate, for example, enzymes that will act when these compartments are absorbed by the body.
One of the problems in medicine is that the biomolecules contained in drugs quickly lose their effectiveness. With bio-hybrid materials as our nanocompartments, it is possible to maintain the full functionality of proteins and enzymes and ensure that they carry out their activities. Moreover, thanks to these synthetic “nano capsules”, the biomolecules are protected and remain intact.
SWI: Is nano-medicine more effective than traditional drugs?
C.P.: Yes, but it’s not just a question of efficacy. In medicine, the biggest challenge today is to also make drugs safer, by reducing side effects. Anyone can go to the pharmacy and buy different coloured pills to treat different diseases. But the question is: what’s in them? The idea is that the doctor of the future will not only prescribe medicine to his or her patients but will also make sure that the medicine works in the right place and is not toxic to other parts of the body. This is what everyone expects when they go to the pharmacy. From this point of view, nanotechnology can help, because it allows these carriers to be “engineered”.
Working with nanotechnology means trying to copy nature to understand how a specific protein acts inside a cell and replace it where necessary if it is missing due to a disease. If we resort to the classic solution – the introduction of molecules in powder form, as is the case with most drugs – the risk is that in some situations the substances will not make it into the cells because they are too big to be absorbed.
A well-known example is vaccines based on messenger RNA technology [such as those developed against Covid-19]. Ribonucleic acid or RNA is embedded in nanoparticles that act as carriers named “vectors”. These vectors protect the molecule and transport it to where it is needed. Being chemically engineered, these nanoparticles are more likely to be accepted by cells.
SWI: Are there risks associated with nanotechnology, also given that it’s new?
C.P.: Of course. But it’s difficult to say what the risks are because it takes several years of tests and clinical results before we can assess them in their entirety. So it’s normal for people to ask questions. For example, in the case of the Covid-19 vaccines, we know that they work well and we know the short-term effects, but we don’t yet know the long-term effects because nobody has had time to study in-depth something that appeared a year and a half ago. So these long-term risks have to be addressed by science.
News
X Marks the Spot: AI’s Treasure Maps Lead to Early Disease Detection
Medical diagnostics expert, doctor’s assistant, and cartographer are all fair titles for an artificial intelligence model developed by researchers at the Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology. Their new model accurately identifies tumors [...]
Scientists Discover Method To Identify Alzheimer’s Disease Before It Progresses to Dementia
Researchers at Aarhus University have discovered a method to identify Alzheimer’s disease before it progresses to dementia, potentially opening up new avenues for treatment. A groundbreaking study could pave the way for early detection [...]
Startling Discovery: COVID-19 Virus Can Stay in the Body More Than a Year After Infection
The COVID-19 virus can persist in the blood and tissue of patients for more than a year after the acute phase of the illness has ended, according to new research from UC San Francisco that offers potential [...]
New bioengineered protein design shows promise in fighting COVID-19
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, scientists have been racing to develop effective treatments and preventatives against the virus. A recent scientific breakthrough has emerged from the work of researchers aiming to combat [...]
Sugar-coated gold nanoparticles can quickly eliminate bacterial infections, no antibiotics required
If left to their own devices, bacteria on our teeth or wounded skin can encase themselves in a slimy scaffolding, turning into what is called biofilm. These bacteria wreak havoc on our tissue and, [...]
Liquid Lightning: Nanotechnology Unlocks New Energy
EPFL researchers have discovered that nanoscale devices harnessing the hydroelectric effect can harvest electricity from the evaporation of fluids with higher ion concentrations than purified water, revealing a vast untapped energy potential. Evaporation is a natural [...]
Unmasking the Illusion: AI-Generated Faces Challenge Perceptions
Research shows survey participants duped by AI-generated images nearly 40 percent of the time. If you recently had trouble figuring out if an image of a person is real or generated through artificial intelligence [...]
New Discovery Reveals How Cells Defend Themselves During Stressful Situations
Stress granules play a crucial role in the stress response, arising from the aggregation of non-translating mRNAs and proteins. Although significant knowledge exists about stress granules, the mechanisms behind their mRNA localization remain partially [...]
Scientists use a new type of nanoparticle that can both deliver vaccines and act as an adjuvant
Many vaccines, including vaccines for hepatitis B and whooping cough, consist of fragments of viral or bacterial proteins. These vaccines often include other molecules called adjuvants, which help to boost the immune system's response [...]
Not Science Fiction: How Optical Neural Networks Are Revolutionizing AI
A novel architecture for optical neural networks utilizes wavefront shaping to precisely manipulate the travel of ultrashort pulses through multimode fibers, enabling nonlinear optical computation. Present-day artificial intelligence systems rely on billions of adjustable [...]
Turning skin cells into limb cells sets the stage for regenerative therapy
In a collaborative study, researchers from Kyushu University and Harvard Medical School have identified proteins that can turn or “reprogram” fibroblasts — the most commonly found cells in skin and connective tissue — into [...]
AI reveals prostate cancer is not just one disease
Artificial Intelligence has helped scientists reveal a new form of aggressive prostate cancer, which could revolutionise how the disease is diagnosed and treated in the future. A Cancer Research UK-funded study, published in Cell Genomics, has revealed [...]
New Study Finds That Persistent COVID-19 Infections Are Surprisingly Common
Recent research conducted by the University of Oxford has found that a high proportion of SARS-CoV-2 infections in the general population lead to persistent infections lasting a month or more. The findings have been published in the journal Nature. [...]
Innovative nanosheet method revolutionizes brain imaging for multi-scale and long-term studies
The human brain has billions of neurons. Working together, they enable higher-order brain functions such as cognition and complex behaviors. To study these higher-order brain functions, it is important to understand how neural activity [...]
Scientists Have Discovered a Potential Universal Antivenom
Scientists at Scripps Research identified antibodies that protect against a host of lethal snake venoms. Scripps Research scientists have developed an antibody that can block the effects of lethal toxins in the venoms of [...]
Scientists discover the human brain is even more powerful than we thought
The human brain could be far more powerful than we ever imagined, scientists have discovered. Researchers have identified cell messaging which have never been uncovered before, which suggests our brains are capable of more than previously realised. It’s [...]