Using lasers and nanoparticles, scientists have discovered a new technique for singling out individual diseased cells and destroying them with tiny explosions. They used lasers to make “nanobubbles” by zapping gold nanoparticles inside cells. When carrying out tests on cancer cells, they found they could tune the lasers to create either small, bright bubbles that were visible but harmless or large bubbles that burst the cells.
Nanobubbles are created when gold nanoparticles are struck by short laser pulses. The short-lived bubbles are very bright and can be made smaller or larger by varying the power of the laser. Because they are visible under a microscope, nanobubbles can be used to either diagnose sick cells or to track the explosions that are destroying them.
[Source]
Chapter: Cancer :: 20 April 2010
