What?
A thin, elastic nanoparticle composite known as a “chiral nanostructure.” It’s capable of circularly polarizing light – coiling it into the shape of a helix (1).Why?
The composite can be built into a portable device that can detect the early stages of cancer recurrence. Why is such a device needed? At the moment, cancer follow-up treatment and monitoring can include maintenance chemotherapy, blood draws, lumbar punctures, extensive diagnostic imaging and a host of other appointments designed to ensure patients never experience an undetected recurrence. But these appointments – however necessary – take time, cost money, and present an unwelcome disruption to patients’ lives for years after they reach remission. And of course, they’re not perfect; recurrences may not be detected until they’re having a significant health impact. So a group of chemical engineers at the University of Michigan asked themselves, “Can we do better?”
How?
They envision a process that begins with taking a blood sample and adding reflective synthetic particles that bind to natural cancer biomarkers. Viewing the sample under circularly polarized light would make the reflective particles visible – meaning that detecting even the earliest signs of cancer could be as simple as looking for them under the right conditions. With a device like this, a simple blood test could replace hours of invasive tests and spot recurrences even earlier.When?
The material has only just been developed, so the research is still a long way from commercial availability – but it’s possible that, in a few years’ time, cancer specialists may be using portable polarization devices to quickly and noninvasively monitor their patients.Newsletters
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References
- Y Kim, “Reconfigurable chiroptical nanocomposites with chirality transfer from the macro- to the nanoscale”, Nat Mater, [Epub ahead of print] (2016). PMID: 26726996.
