from the in-some-places-they-call-them-midi-chlorians dept.
These Nanobots Can Swim Around a Wound and Kill Bacteria:
[...] It turns out, the nanobots are among us. For over a decade, Samuel Sánchez, a chemist with the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia, in Barcelona, has been envisioning nanobots that could carry useful payloads, like cancer drugs or antibiotics, through the body’s viscous fluids.
Picture a spherical particle of silica, which functions as a chassis. Sánchez has shown that you can dot its surface with a mess of special proteins that propel the particle through fluid, like little motors. His lab has experimented with different chassis, motors, and cargo. In research published in late April, they joined forces with antibiotics researchers. The team loaded silica nanobots with experimental antibiotics—including one derived from wasp venom—to treat infected wounds on mice. The nanobots, which were dropped onto one end of an infected wound, traveled through the skin to treat the entire area—the first report of nanobots killing bacteria in animals.
“We see that the whole wound gets covered. The machines can actually travel around the wound and clear the infection as they go,” says César de la Fuente, a bioengineer at the University of Pennsylvania who led the project with Sánchez.
That matters, because drugs normally depend on diffusion, or the process of passively spreading through the body’s fluids. If the most perfect antibiotic in the world can diffuse only as well as a brick in a tub of jelly—well, it’s not perfect.
Journal Reference:
Xavier Arqué et al., Autonomous Treatment of Bacterial Infections in Vivo Using Antimicrobial Micro- and Nanomotors, American Chemical Society, 2022 (DOI: https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/acsnano.1c11013)
Ana C. Hortelão et al., Enzyme-Powered Nanobots Enhance Anticancer Drug Delivery, 2017 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/adfm.201705086)
Ana C. Hortelao et al., Swarming behavior and in vivo monitoring of enzymatic nanomotors within the bladder, 2021 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1126/scirobotics.abd2823)
Marcelo D. T. Torres et al., The wasp venom antimicrobial peptide polybia-CP and its synthetic derivatives display antiplasmodial and anticancer properties, 2020 (DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/btm2.10167)
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16 2022, @11:31AM (3 children)
This is a slippery slope. First you get nanobots to kill bacteria. Next you get them to kill pedophiles, transvestites and Muslims. And then Bill Gates gets involved and they'll everyone who doesn't pay him a monthly fee.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16 2022, @01:04PM
First they came for the plasmids and I said nothing . . .
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Monday May 16 2022, @02:16PM (1 child)
Bill Gates currently only does philanthropic work and has done so for quite some time. The Bill Gates == Evil Meme has passed. Get a new one.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16 2022, @10:58PM
Paedo-tourism in Africa under the guise of Philanthropic work, much like many UN program workers, and other philanthropic perverts (priests and nuns, anyone?)
There is fucked up shit going on around us every day, but most choose not to dig a little deeper.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16 2022, @01:12PM (5 children)
I didn't think technology was at this point yet.
This is exciting, especially in the context of antibiotic resistance.
The story also reminds me of "Old man's war" (book by John Scalzi).
the scary part will be when nanobots are programmed to update themselves, based on what they learn (I assume people will try this for aggressive cancers).
after that, I guess the DNA/RNA mechanism will have some serious competition.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by HiThere on Monday May 16 2022, @01:31PM
Ehhh...don't over-read what was reported. The name is not the thing. The thing being described here doesn't match the SF nanobot, though it's got a FEW similar features. There's probably no better word, but it's like calling a Wright flyer a supersonic jet.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16 2022, @03:21PM
The story reminded me of the nano machines predicted by Eric Drexler in "Engines of Creation"
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engines_of_Creation [wikipedia.org]
(Score: 1) by liar on Monday May 16 2022, @04:07PM
So, less Old man's war and more
Killjoys (1.05)
A Glitch in the System (T.V. )?
Noli nothis permittere te terere.
(Score: 2) by bart9h on Monday May 16 2022, @05:04PM (1 child)
These are *very* simple machines. They can't be "updated", can't "learn", and are very far from any general computing capacity.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday May 16 2022, @05:35PM
yes. well. viruses are very simple machines too, maybe we can combine a virus with one of these?
all that you need is a protein that grabs hold of the machine properly.