Cancer is one of the hardest illnesses to cure basically because it is difficult to diagnose and detect. Many individuals died of cancer because their condition was detected in the late phase of the disease already. Google aims to create a simple and fast detector for cancer and even heart attack through the use of nanoparticles.
According to the Centers for Disease Control And Prevention, an estimated 600,000 people die of heart disease in the United States yearly and that is one in every four deaths. It is one of the leading causes of mortality in both men and women. Subsequently, 720,000 Americans suffer from heart attack every year.
Meanwhile, according to CDC and the National Cancer Institute, report says that from 1999 to 2011, more than one million cases of invasive cancer are diagnosed each year. Consequently, 74,000 deaths from cancer occurred.
The company is manned by experts that are working on innovative technology that combines nanoparticles that are used to detect disease. This will be ingested via a pill and a wrist watch is worn as a sensor. The theory behind the technology is that the nanoparticles will enter the blood stream of the person and detect changes in biochemistry. This is a non-invasive way to detect cancer cells at the early phase of the disease. Hence, it will save more lives because immediate treatment will be done.
The nanoparticles are designed to be magnetic. They will attract cancer cells and bind to them. After it will attach to the cancer cell, it will travel through the bloodstream and via the magnetic field created by the wrist sensor. They will then be counted and detected by the sensor.
For heart disease, on the other hand, since the nanoparticles can travel within the body and explore up to the cellular level, it can find evidence of fatty plaques in the vessels that are culprits in heart attack and stroke.
Lead researcher Dr. Andre Conrad is in charge of the project. He is a molecular biologist who was the one who developed a cheap HIV test widely used at present.