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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."
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.
"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?
"...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.
Sure, only about one billionth of a meter in width, but the pills are *really* long ...
[He pulls out a huge black pill.]
It must have been something you assimilated. . . .