Nanoscale propellers ‘offer numerous potential medical applications’

New nanotechnology research has resulted in the creation of microscopic propellers with a potentially diverse range of medical applications and uses.

The Israeli and German team have developed a tiny screw-shaped propeller that is able to move in a gel-like fluid, similar to the environments found inside living organisms. The entire propeller is 400 nanometres long – 100 times smaller than a human blood cell.

Scientists found that these miniscule devices could move quickly through the body while offering a surprising level of control.

Potential uses for these innovative devices are manifold, as active molecules could be attached to the tips of the propellers, or alternatively they could be used to deliver small doses of radiation for therapeutic reasons.

Peer Fischer, research team member at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, said: "One can now think about targeted applications, for instance in the eye, where they may be moved to a precise location at the retina."

The project was the result of a collaboration between Max Planck, the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology's Russell Berrie Nanotechnology Institute and the Institute for Physical Chemistry at the University of Stuttgart.