Tiny nanorobots may be the next big breakthrough in fighting cancer. About the size of a virus, the magnetic, metal machines could be used to detect and treat tumors from inside malfunctioning cells. John Gibbs is a physicist at Northern Arizona University and makes these microscopic nanomachines.
"The most interesting part," Gibbs says, "is being able to control things on a very small scale. It's, first, very difficult to fabricate particles that are this size and materials this size, and also, it's difficult to get to the point where we're able to manipulate them in an effective manner."
Another big challenge is how to propel them through complicated fluid environments, like blood and cells. Gibbs is researching the physics of cells to figure out the best way for nanorobots to move around and inside them.
"That's basically the ultimate goal," Gibbs says, "to be able to use them in biological environments in order to either deliver drugs to certain parts of the body, or perhaps attack cancer cells and so forth." He adds, "We really have to understand how these particles behave in those environments first, and that requires us to make sure that we can at least do the basic of being able to move them around before we are able to use them in biological environments."
Gibbs says there's much more research to be conducted before tiny armies of nanorobots can become part of mainstream medical treatment. But, he hopes his work will eventually lead to that kind of revolutionary advance...fighting cancer and other types of disease.
