26 June 2012
Special Delivery
Cancer chemotherapy drugs can have horrible side-effects as they unavoidably impact upon the growth of healthy skin, hair and blood cells. Delivering drugs specifically into cancerous cells is challenging given their microscopic scale. This HeLa cervical cancer cell, grown in the lab with its membrane dyed green, measures only 1/125 of a centimetre across. A microscopic needle called a nanowire has been pushed through the cell’s outer membrane to inject a fluorescent microdot (emitting red light) into the cell. It is hoped that this approach could be adapted to selectively deliver chemicals straight into the heart of tumour cells in the human body. Similar nanowires attached to optical fibres can carry light into specific areas of a single cell, allowing further investigation into the chemistry, biology and physics of cellular life.
Written by
- Ruoxue Yan
- Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, USA
- Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Nanotechnology Copyright 2012
- Published in Nature Nanotechnology 7(3); 141-203
Search The Archive
Submit An Image
Like us on Facebook
Follow on Twitter
Follow on Tumblr
Follow on Instagram
What is BPoD?
BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.
BPoD is also available in Catalan at www.bpod.cat with translations by the University of Valencia.