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DNA Nanorobot Halts Growth of Cancer Cells
ananyo writes "DNA origami, a technique for making structures from DNA, has been used to build devices that can seek out and potentially destroy cancer cells. The nanorobots use a similar system to cells in the immune system to engage with receptors on the outside of cells. The barrel-shaped devices, each about 35 nanometers in diameter, contain 12 sites on the inside for attaching payload molecules and two positions on the outside for attaching aptamers, short nucleotide strands with special sequences for recognizing molecules on the target cell (abstract). The aptamers act as clasps: once both have found their target, they spring open the device to release the payload. The researchers tested six combinations of aptamer locks, each of which were designed to target different types of cancer cells in culture. Those designed to hit a leukemia cell could pick that cell out of a mixture of cell types, then release their payload — in this case, an antibody — to stop the cells from growing. The researchers designed the structure of the nanorobots using open-source software, called Cadnano."
Bill Gates said open source *is* cancer.
Origami has shown up twice on slashdot recently and could be a good buzzword candidate.
Sounds like it plays asteroids with cancer cells. I hope there are no UFOs to mess things up and it doesn't attack anything else.
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You have to wonder about the other applications of this technology - targeting specific genetic groups with a vaccine or even a weapon for example.
Please consider this account deleted, I just can't be bothered with the spam anymore.
Wow. I am continually impressed with the advance in various technologies, especially medical tech. In 1966 McCoy's displays in sick bay were far-out future fantasy, today they look primitive.
When we have nano-robots that can build more nano-robots, I think the time will come when a 3D printer will seem not only quaint, but as primitive as McCoy's sick bay.
Are these devices really "robots," though?
Free Martian Whores!
I am not a biologist or a roboticist, but as a programmer I suspect regression testing on altered proteins is going to be a bitch.
Science has shown that the cure for cancer WILL cause a zombie apocalypse, place your bets as to when it will start, where ground zero will be and how long it will take for the annihilation of the human race.
Why this cannot be tested in humans right now?
A few things I didn't see in the article that may be of concern. The immune system itself tends to see loose (extracellular) DNA as foreign and attacks it. Have they tested this to see how the natural immune system responds to this delivery system? Does the DNA structure they used possibly have segments that could be used in transcription, should the nanobot become damaged and broken off loose DNA somehow makes it way into a cell? I only have a bachelor's in biochemistry so I'm sure these guys have considered such things but I'm curious to know.
Obligatory XKCD: http://xkcd.com/865/
No comparisons to Borg nanoprobes with a nice helping of "I for one welcome..."? I'm disappointed Slashdot.
This will quietly fail. Ain't gonna work. Sorry.
about advances is medical technology. It seems like I have read hundreds of these every year for the past 10 years. SO WHEN ARE WE GOING TO SEE SOME ACTUAL PRODUCTS UP IN HERE!!!!
In my opinion, this is a dramatically over-complicated solution to a problem that could better be solved by playing around with cooperative binding to cell surface receptors. Drugs need to be extremely simple and easy to purify, and as far as I understand, these complexes are composed of hundreds of oligonucleotides of dubious purity. No doubt the work is very cool, but I'd call this a classic example of a solution (a scheme for complex molecular self-assembly) being forced to fit a seemingly sexy problem (targeted chemotherapy).
I guess the editors didn't like my flights of fancy.
wisebabo writes
"The Singularity I've thought will be achieved when we get two things 1) true atomic level control over matter as demonstrated by human designed robots that can replicate themselves from the lego blocks of nature, atoms, and 2) when we have supra-human intelligence that can take over the difficult process of thinking. (Of course having #2 will make it a lot easier to achieve #1 but that's another topic).
Well it looks like we're getting closer to the first goal. Harvard researchers have built robots made from DNA. While I'm not sure the robots themselves can self-replicate, it seems probable that using PCR it would be easy to make trillions of these things at a time.
I know robots made from DNA may not be as flexible or robust as ones made from a completely "bottom up" approach (by Eric Drexler's assemblers) but it's a (good) start.. By using these self-assembling systems as a base, we can hopefully use them to make more general purpose machines. And as long as they're made from fragile DNA (carbon links) there's less chance of them becoming an unstoppable Grey Goo!
Now if only we could solve that pesky A.I. problem. If Siri and Watson had a baby, would it be HAL? ;)
Link to Original Source
Possibly that during the treatment of the nanobots, the immune is suppressed at a level to make the specific nanobot dosage to work.
It's like Embryonic Stem Cell Research. They use immune suppressed mice to ensure the Embryonic Stem Cells are not fought off by an immune system, and the stem cells beocome cancerous. In this case, it is to allow the nanobots to do their work.
Anyone else strangely reminded of I,Robot?
earlier today:
*trollface*
How I love my old issues of Analog Magazine, they somehow have predicted the future more than once.
this was covered back in the day and I have been wondering when it was going to come about.
If the pattern keeps up, in 12 years we will see the trial runs of this, and cancer reduction across the entire
world population. it would seem that it viable, just a lot of testing needs to be done.
Analog gave (me) hope to the future, a future where knowledge and being a good DIY can advance the world.
Onepoint
if you see me, smile and say hello.
We always hear these same cool stories that they have come out with the next n of x field and will be able to do zyx with it.
I think it is very cool that they found a way of doing this, but it would also be very cool to actually see/hear when the fully
operational model available to the public will be done.
Umm... There already exists a compound that does something similar... Good luck finding publicly available research, though - big pharma is just as ruthless as the RIAA/MPAA when it comes to doing anything possible to make people pay them more money. Research amygdalin. DON'T confuse it with laetrile. Laetrile is a failed attempt at synthetic amygdalin. Laetrile is dangerous, while amygdalin has never been shown to be so. Also, don't let the term "vitamin B17" confuse you - people may be referring to either amygdalin or laetrile, so it's best to avoid the term.
Wow I had no idea that the people engaging in this technology could be so sensationalist about how they talk about it. It is profound and very promising, but I hate how they are calling all these constructs 'robots' and 'nanobots' and talk about 'programming' them. That's a load of BS and it cheapens the power of the organic. These constructs are made of organic materials, not steel and silicon robots. Using this language gives the world an entirely wrong idea about what it is about and cheapens the decades of hard work of biologists and biochemists by piggy-backing sci-fi/electronic ideas and fame. Call it a biobot if you must. But then I guess as soon as you start talking about the fact that this is a reactive biological thing created by man, all the bible-bangers of the world get their panties in a bunch.
"Men willingly believe what they wish." - Julius Caesar
Thats ONE less thing to worry about!
This sig is not paradoxical or ironic.