Brain cancer is a deadly disease that has evaded an effective treatment till now. But researchers at the University of Chicago and the U.S. Department of Energy now say they have developed a method to kill the cancer cells. The method involves tagging the cells with iron-plated nanodiscs and shaking them with magnets, thereby killing them.
The discs are attached to antibodies that look for cancerous cells and tag them with the tiny metal objects. Then a weak magnetic field is applied, causing the cells to vibrate and eventually die. The surrounding healthy cells remain unaffected. The scientists plan to start testing this novel method on animals soon, and if it turns out to be promising, may one day lead to an effective treatment.
Source: Science Daily.
