Trapping Toxins Using Gold Nanoparticles

Billly Gates writes "British scientists have found a way to quickly and accurately find toxins by binding gold nanoparticles with sugar which then could be dissolved in a solution that changes color when any toxin is found. This procedure could be used in the medical field to find poisons and diseases as well as finding substances in bioterrorist attacks."

Comments

Bioterrorism?

[tpgp]

*sighs*

Mention bioterrorism and you're guaranteed publicity and funding.

Meanwhile, the real bioterrorists are never going to be bought to justice.

Re:Bioterrorism?

[tpgp]

So... uh... don't buy them? Use the system you've been using so far, which seems to work well enough?

You do realise how plants work don't you? It's quite possible for cross pollination to occur without the express written permission of the farmer.

FUD

[Inverted Intellect]

Why can't this invention be deemed notable for its own worth? News outlets continually drag some kind of terrorism into everything these days...

Suddenly, a new way to detect toxins isn't notable because it helps those with medical conditions, but rather because it hinders terrorists from achieving their goals... not that it isn't a good side effect or anything.

What's next? "New construction techniques defend against terrorist bombings"?

Re:Any toxin?

[Inverted Intellect]

So - you're going to need a special 'receptor' sugar for each toxin type.

That doesn't neccessarily have to pose a challenge to having a substance cabable of detecting a wide variety of toxins. It may be possible to mix several of these particles in a cocktail. But then, if these particles are supposed to be readable by eyesight (in sufficient quantity, that is), then additional equipment may be needed in order to read the results of measurements using the substance.

But then, I know very little about all this, there's way too little info in TFA to tell about these things at the moment.

I'm not sure if what I'm saying is painfully obvious already. If I get a (Score:-1, Redundant), then I'll just have to live with it.

Re:Any toxin?

[Omaze]

The article is purposely vague because it's a fluff piece. Maybe the PR department for the University of East Anglia had some credits to burn with the BBC. The technology amounts to little more than,"We found a new way to grind gold to a finer particle size and now we can use it to... uh... do some stuff which... can... uh... be used for... um... detecting TERRORISTS!" Throw in the sappy bit about water testing with the gratuitous shot of the poverty stricken child crouching in a dirty alleyway and everything's all set.

Take for example this phrase,"the target substance, be it a poison such as ricin or a bug like E.coli, binds to the sugar." That must be some sort of that funny magical sugar that comes from the end of the rainbow if it can bind both ricin (a protein of about 520 amino acid residues) and E.coli (an entire bacteria) with any selectivity over, say, phlegm or an innocent algae.

The article is a cheap promotion for Professor David Russel and a PR feelgood article for those who don't know much about biochemistry.