What is the Potential of Flagella-Based Nanorobots in Medicine?
In this day and age, there are many diseases that are hard or even impossible to cure with reference to the technological stage that humanity is currently at. Diseases like cancer, diabetes, and strokes kill many people every day. While there are many treatments for these conditions, they can prove to be unsuccessful and lead to the death of the patient. However, an experimental technology called nanotechnology can be used to create treatments for these diseases and change the face of future medical treatment. Nanotechnology is currently being used to work on things at the atomic level, such as creating new super-strong metamaterials, DNA imaging, and illness cell repairing. Flagella-based nanorobots are a form of nanotechnology that can work at an extremely small scale and could individually terminate cells that cause illness. More importantly, they have practically no side effects, incredible accuracy, and can adapt to patient body cycles (wyss.harvard.edu).
Flagella-based nanorobots utilize body fluids to create a natural chemical propulsion, allowing for practically no side effects, contrary to traditional treatment methods like chemotherapy. This method of destroying the body’s cancerous cells greatly harms the human body as it also kills many of the normal cells. Whenever a foreign body is introduced into the human bloodstream, our immune systems automatically release hydrogen peroxide as a byproduct.
The flagella on the nanorobots have polymer-based absorption mechanisms that transport this newly absorbed hydrogen peroxide to the flagella’s chamber (Kroeker, Medical Nanobots, cacm.acm.org). Each side of the chamber is coated with a reactive metal such as platinum to start a reaction. This reaction creates bubbles that propel the nanorobot through the body (Nain, Propulsion of Nanorobots, tandfonline.com). The newly emerging flagella-based nanorobots work better than existing nanorobots because they are much more accurate in maneuvering due to the numerous flagella attachments. This allows for improved treatment and targeting of illness cells.
Flagella-based nanorobots can adapt to the patient’s body cycles very efficiently through the use of simple programming. The Nanorobot Control Design (NCD) software allows health professionals to simulate a patient’s body scans. Biosensors can be programmed for effective drug delivery (nanoindustries.com). These sensors can hypothetically test the treatment for its most optimal function through a simulation module. Using this, the best treatment type for the patient’s illness can be given. Furthermore, these nanorobots can either naturally be removed from the body through body processes or stay and monitor for a longer period of time. This essentially means that the robot will continue moving around your body, fixing issues as they arise. For example, in the case of a blood clot, nanorobots can be injected in order to destroy these clots and then stay to monitor the heart rate of the patient. The information that is monitored can all be transmitted to an external device and can fix problems in your body instantaneously.
A recent experiment conducted to kill ovarian cancer in mice demonstrated that these nanorobots work properly. However, flagella-based nanorobots prove to be effective in the treatment of minor illnesses as well, such as the common cold. The effect is very similar; the nanorobots fight off any infected cells with much more efficiency than antibiotics and other modern remedies. Following this, the nanorobots can either stay in the body to make sure the disease does not arise again or disintegrate harmlessly. All illnesses are caused by the displacement of atoms in your body. If this very cause can be targeted and fixed at the nanoscale, many illnesses can be prevented and concurrently, many lives can be saved. Nanotechnology could eliminate diseases, disabilities, and illnesses such as diabetes, malaria, HIV, cardiovascular disease. It could repair damage from injuries and accidents, heal wounds, reduce child mortality, regenerate limbs and organs, and much more. This technology has the potential to revolutionize the medical world and make the need for many different medicines obsolete. The nanorobots could prove to be a universal “medicine” to illnesses and could even possibly serve as a replacement for hospitals and medical clinics in the coming future.
The world is home to about 7.7 billion people, of which about 95% live with some sort of medical illness according to the 2013 Global Burden of Disease Study (ABC Health and Wellbeing, abc.net.au). Flagella-based nanobots have the potential to reduce this percentage significantly. As nanotechnology becomes more and more advanced, the possibilities for futuristic medicine seem endless.
References
(n.d.). Retrieved from http://www.nanorobotdesign.com/ncd/
Australian Broadcasting Corporation. (2015, June 10). ABC Health & Wellbeing. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/health/thepulse/stories/2015/06/11/4253253.htm
Kroeker, K. L. (2009, September 01). Medical Nanobots. Retrieved from https://cacm.acm.org/magazines/2009/9/38890-medical-nanobots/abstract
Nain, S., & Sharma, N. (n.d.). Propulsion of an artificial nanoswimmer: A comprehensive review. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21553769.2014.962103
Nanotechnology, the real science of miracles, the end of disease, aging, poverty and pollution. (n.d.). Retrieved from http://nanoindustries.com/nanotechnology_science_of_miracles/
Researchers at Harvard’s Wyss Institute Develop DNA Nanorobot to Trigger Targeted Therapeutic Responses. (2017, January 23). Retrieved from https://wyss.harvard.edu/news/researchers-at-harvards-wyss-institute-develop-dna-nanorobot-to-trigger-targeted-therapeutic-responses/
