Mini-subs through your veins

In 1966, the movie Awesome Journey , based on a novel by Isaac Asimov, caused a sensation in cinemas around the world by telling the story of a military and medical team that, after being reduced to a microscopic size, was thrown into the torrent. blood from a scientist aboard the submarine Proteus in order to reach his brain and remove a life-threatening clot.

Now a Tel-Aviv University researcher is about to make it happen after designing a real mini-submarine that could travel through our arteries and veins to fight cancer "from within ." Of course, this time without human crew members.

The vehicle, designed at the nanoscale, has been made with biological materials and, according to Peer, works like a GPS system when it comes to locating the cells it must attack. For example, it can be programmed to locate overactive immune cells in the digestive system that cause Crohn's disease , or to inject poison into cancer cells in a specific organ such as the breast or pancreas without affecting healthy ones. It could even treat neurodegenerative diseases.

Peer and his team have already started the trials and anticipate that everything will be ready to use their medical submarine in a maximum period of five years .