4 ms·
Antibiotics: Precision Strike
- refurb 13y agoIt seems like this technique would be limited to treating infection where: (1) you can reach the infection with a light source and (2) the infection is limited to the surface of an organ. I wonder how deep the UV light can penetrate as well, since even skin infections (at least the serious ones) tend to invade deep layers of tissue where the light won't reach.
- gz5 13y agoAgree, this is just scratching the surface, no pun intended. The article is a good reminder of the sledgehammer approach that we still have in much of modern medicine (not just in the case of antibiotics), even as great and advanced as modern medicine is.
- bill_from_tampa 13y agoThis is certainly interesting research, but killing bacteria on agar is a long way from treating humans. I'm still waiting for bacteriophage vials to be available in my local CVS.
- robbiep 13y agoYou and me both. I'm thinking of doing my masters in wound healing and skin infections using bacteriophages. I WANT this technology.
- sp332 13y agoCool! This reminds me of a new potential cancer treatment that uses infrared light to heat gold nanoparticles inside a tumor to kill it. The crappy, winding blood vessels inside tumors tend to trap more of the nanoparticles, effectively targeting delivery right into the tumor. http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/gold-cancer-0504.html http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2009/gold-cancer-0504.html