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Toward nanorobots that swim through blood to deliver drugs [video]
- graeham 11y ago" And when they applied an oscillating magnetic field, the nanoswimmer moved in an S-like, undulatory motion at the speed of nearly one body length per second. " If applying an external magnetic field, why not just use that to direct the drug delivery?
- dnautics 11y agoWhy not just use biology (eg antibodies) to direct the drug delivery?
- graeham 11y agoIt is being done https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclonal_antibody_therapy https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monoclonal_antibody_therapy Often these drugs are very expensive, and the targeting is to a specific receptor rather than a specific region. A magnetically or swim steered drug delivery would be for targeting a specific region/ location in the body, or perhaps to move into areas that are hard or slow to move into with simple diffusion.
- yedpodtrzitko 11y agoStupid question: how come they avoid white blood cells?
- hellbanner 11y agoWhite blood cells might destroy them.
- jokoon 11y agothis has been fantasized in metal gear solid for so long now...
- DarkTree 11y agoI remember giving a presentation on nanotechnology about 7 years ago as a freshman in high school, and this implementation was one of the 'fantasy' use cases I covered. 7 years seems like a lifetime ago, yet so short when discussing the development of world-changing technology like this. It is a truly exciting time we live in.