Polytechnic University of Catalonia develops innovative tumour-killing technique

The Polytechnic University of Catalonia in Spain is developing an innovative technique whereby nanobots are used to fight tumour cells.

According to scientists Maria Gregori and Ignacio Llatser at the Barcelona-based institution, nanobots could be used to detect tumour cells in the body and release anti-cancer drugs to kill them.

Each nanobot would contain bacteria inscribed with a message in the form of a DNA sequence that is inserted into each bacterium's cytoplasm.

When a nanobot encounters a tumour, it would release the correctly encoded bacteria, which would then swim towards other nanobots, as it would be attracted to the nutrients stored within them.

Once there, the encoded DNA sequence would be bound with chemical receptors and the message telling nanobots where to release drugs would be acted upon.

The scientists found that in a computer simulation, bacteria propelled by a whirling helical tail or flagellum took around six minutes to travel a distance of one millimetre from a transmitting to a receiving nanobot.