Lasers Create Targeted Nanobubble Bursts to Kill Cancer Cells

Zap'em when you're close enough to see the bubbles

By Jeremy Hsu Posted 02.05.2010 at 2:07 pm 6 Comments

Nano-Apocalypse Lasers can create nanobubbles that burst cancer cells. We imagine the nano-apocalypse might look something like this nanoscale work of art by engineering physicist Fanny Beron of the Polytechnic School of Montreal. Fanny Beron

Nanoparticles and lasers have proven both proven effective in targeting cancer cells, and now scientists have used them in concert to deliver death to diseased cells. Lasers that zap gold nanoparticles inside specific cells can either create small, bright bubbles to paint the target, or large bubbles that burst the cells.

Such nanobubbles show up under microscopes and could allow scientists to better diagnose cancer cells, if not destroy them outright. Researchers have used nanobubbles in the past to blast plaque deposits that can clog arteries and cause heart attacks.

"The bubbles work like a jackhammer," said Dmitri Lapotko, a physicist at Rice University in Houston and head of the study that appears in the journal Nanotechnology.

Lapotko and his Rice University group targeted leukemia cells as well as head and neck cancer cells in their latest work. They attached antibodies to the nanoparticles that specifically targeted only cancer cells, and then set about with the laser zapping.

But this promising approach has some competition. We previously looked at a multi-tasking nanoparticle that can seek out and destroy cancer cells all by its lonesome self.

[via ScienceDaily]

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6 Comments

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old-scratch

02/05/10 at 2:47 pm

All of this advancement is fantastic. Except of course that it will only be available to the super rich elite.

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justin_w222002

02/05/10 at 2:58 pm

for now maybe as advancements improve and the technology becomes easier to use the middle class will be able to use it as well. Im sure there will be insurances that cover it as well. Only the time will tell.

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caradoc01

02/05/10 at 3:01 pm

@old-scratch: and why shouldn't it be?

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old-scratch

02/05/10 at 7:26 pm

Oh thats right I forgot. Only trust fund babies deserve to live. ..

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Bubbeez

02/05/10 at 9:29 pm

You both seem like the perfect model of a Jack Ass. Advancement is advancement. Eventually it helps or hurts even your unemployed uncle or your favorite CEO.

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robotman2009

02/14/10 at 4:10 pm

This kinda stuff is why we need some health care reform...this will only be available to those who have really nice insurance...or who can pay for it outright...I appreciate very much the minds that worked on this, but I totally loathe the minds that will see this as another oppurtunity to make a buck...stuff like this should be available to everyone who has cancer.