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Google Developing a Pill To Detect Cancer
An anonymous reader writes: The Google X research lab has unveiled a new project: developing a pill capable of detecting cancer, imminent heart attacks, and other diseases. According to the article, "the company is fashioning nanoparticles—particles about one billionth of a meter in width—that combine a magnetic material with antibodies or proteins that can attach to and detect other molecules inside the body." When a person ingests the pill, these particles interact with the particular markers for a given disease. Since they're magnetic, they can then be guided back to a particular spot where they can be scanned to determine if any interactions took place. Google X's head of life sciences, Andrew Conrad, said, "What we are trying to do is change medicine from reactive and transactional to proactive and preventative. Nanoparticles... give you the ability to explore the body at a molecular and cellular level."
How do these particles avoid gut enzymes, once in the blood how do these particles avoid phagocytosis by macrophages, how can you expect that magnetic dragging of a number of these particles will not be deleterious, for example some of these got into cellular organelles being forcefully pulled out through their membranes etc. Either it is crazy or there is something ingenious about it.
The pill transmits to a wrist sensor. Of course, that will transmit to an Android phone, which will upload the data to Google's servers. You'll need a Google account, of course. All that data will be available to you (and, of course, Google's "affiliates") via a newly reactivated Google Health.
So, once the antibody attaches to something, how do you get it to detach so that it can go to the rendezvous point?
So you inject a thousand different particles, how do you "read" which ones interacted with something?
Hmm, you also have to have a marker for each disease - a marker that is extraordinarily specific. These don't exist either.
While I hope it works, I suspect that this project this project will go nowhere. BTW - antibodies are about 14 nm long, 9 nm wide, probably about 4 nm in smallest dimension (possibly much larger, depending on the type of antibody) which is significantly larger than the story implies. I'll believe it when I see it.
Sounds to me like someone has done some creative writing to get their project funded.
Only if you have a google account. One account -- all of your body.
"I'm not sure I have cancer, but based on the ads I've been seeing lately..."
How can I believe you when you tell me what I don't want to hear?
..in order to view your upcoming heart attacks and your terminal diseases. Share the news with your circles so they can +1 you for support!
My doctors don't believe in doing any tests that aren't indicated by an existing condition. Why cause concern if something is found? What about false positives? Is it going to cost a lot of money? Will insurance pay for it? Once a condition is diagnosed then insurance will pay for it but not before. Prventative medicine is not practices here.
Google X is a data company, not a nanomaterials company. They've had some success combining existing tech into a paltform like the self driving cars, but nanoparticles are still in the lab-phase and trying hard to transition to an application phase. So i feel like it's inaccurate to say Google is developing this, especially when the article says they're looking for partners. The partner is the one to develop this.
The right guy, who's also just a stone's throw away from Google, is Bell Biosystems, they have some really cool technology. http://www.bellbiosystems.com/Technology
There are several other promising nanoparticle candidates, but unfortunately a lot of the data shows there's still a lot of control work to be done.
If all the nanoparticles end up sticking together and blocking an artery they can just stick you in a big degausser to get them to break up.
"...the company is fashioning nanoparticles—particles about one billionth of a meter in width"
Because traditionally, measurements in the ingredients of pills are in meters.
It is pitch black. You are likely to be eaten by a grue.
Simple. They control the nanodevices, so they control the apps to control the nanodevices. They add ads to the apps. They profit!
One pill makes you larger And one pill makes you small And the ones that mother gives you Don't do anything at all Go ask Alice, when she's ten feet tall - Grace Slick Or...The Matrix version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... Med research stuff takes a decade to go through trials, endless approval and patent stuff, etc. It's like Conan and Andy said, "In the year 2000..."
"Hey, why did the | I'm Feeling Lucky | button disappear?"
Anybody want a peanut?
"Proactive and preventative", eh. Let's say Google wants a larger percentage of the population
/p?
to be apt at programming. Would be nice to have a pill that would proactively and preventatively
aborts unneeded foetuses -- those with relatively limited perspective -- in Google's programmatic,
programmed, proactive, preventative world.
Google: We have found a cure for cancer
Typical Slashdotter: Nah. If I have cancer, I will live with it. I don't want to risk you showing me ads relevant to cancer survivors. I much prefer the ads for tampons I see now.
the nanoparticles will cause it.
Far and away the biggest challenge here is to figure out a "marker of a given disease". If the "marker" is something circulating in the blood, then this project is basically developing a chemistry test that can be ingested as a pill, absorbed into the blood, run autonomously in the bloodstream, collected magnetically and interpreted on the spot. Alternatively, you could do a simple blood draw and send the tube to the lab. Right now, we don't have any effective cancer screening based on this approach. If the "marker" is bound to a cell, this gets even harder. Presumably, the "marker" would be something that doesn't belong on the cell. However, your immune system is an expert at detecting what should and should not be on a cell surface. The nanoparticle must be able to figure out that the cell surface "marker" doesn't belong there, and do this more efficiently than your own immune system. That's a tall order. If Google wants to make a major contribution, forget the nanoparticle. Just figure out the markers. It would easily be worth a Nobel prize (possibly several).
You mean the particles so tiny, they can easily pass thru the blood / brain barrier and do unimaginable neurological damage? Those particles? #WhatCouldPossiblyGoWrong
Listen to this person.
I got mine two years ago and they removed some stage 1 polyps. Had I waited a few years I might be in the same boat as this AC.
Now I have to get colonoscopies every 3 years. But I am not complaining.