Photo: REUTERS/NASA/Handout via Reuters
(foxnews.com) – The nano age and space age have converged in a partnership that could usher in a new era of hope for cancer patients.
Like the advent of modern anesthesia and its impact on surgical research in the 19th century, a major research project aboard the International Space Station for the newly-created Houston Methodist Center of Space NanoMedicine could deliver major results.
“We are on the verge of something big,” Alessandro Grattoni, director of the Houston Methodist Center of Space Nanomedicine, told FoxNews.com. “It could change the way chemotherapy is delivered.”
A concept developed by Grattoni involves a reloadable implant, inserted under the skin, which is trained to attack tumors and ferret out hidden metastasized cells. The first experiment launched on Space X-8 last month and is expected to shed light on the mysterious way particles diffuse as they move through tight nanospaces. Grattoni’s team, working with particles 50,000 times smaller than the human hair, have previously only viewed their work via computer modeling.
“Part of our frustration has been working on this for 10 years, never being able to see it, that’s why it was important to create a larger scale,” he told FoxNews.com.
The project is studying the diffusion of drug molecules through nanochannels encased in DVD-sized panels, enabling scientists to view the movement of the 2.8-micrometer particles without gravity’s tug.