Fighting cancer is the priority, but a technique pioneered in the lab by Swiss researchers could have profound implications for every aspect of the human body.
According to Tasmin Osbourne of New Scientist magazine, organelles are compartments inside of cells that carry out specialized metabolic functions. Think of them as handy little bags of enzymes, the proteins that make reactions happen inside the body. Now think of carrying your own plastic bags full of the right enzymes and depositing them just where they are needed, right down at the cellular level.
Such a technique would be great for delivering enzymes that become active only when next to - or even inside - a cancer cell, allowing direct targeting of these cells, destroying them without affecting any other non-cancerous cell.
And they would also work to carry enzymes to any part of the body that currently lacks the proper enzymes to work. Example: the microvilli on the insides of the small intestines where the lactase enzyme is made. That means people who are lactose intolerant and no longer make lactase could have bundles implanted in them, a far superior procedure to swallowing a lactase pill and hoping that the lactase gets to where it needs to be.
After that, the sky's the limit. How about photosynthetic skin so you could get energy directly from the sun, like a plant?
Obviously, all this is many, many years or decades away, assuming it ever makes it out of the lab. Still, a fascinating bit of research that is one of the best examples of nanotechnology that I've seen.
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