Google is in the early stages of developing a nanoparticle-covered pill to detect cancer and other serious health problems such as heart disease, according to Andrew Conrad, head of the life sciences team at Google X, who revealed the project last week at The Wall Street Journal's WSJDLive conference.

The pill would work in tandem with a wearable magnetic device worn by the patient; the device would guide the pill to different parts of the body and collect data that could reveal the person's potential for developing a variety of health problems.

"The idea is to functionalize these nanoparticles to make them do what we want," Conrad said.

There's considerable interest in the project, although it's in the early stages, with a time line of five years or more.

"Using metal nanoparticles for detecting tumor cells is an intriguing innovation," said Victoria Richards, associate professor of medical sciences at Quinnipiac University's Frank H. Netter MD School of Medicine.

"It would be an advantage over invasive methods or less specific means of diagnostics," she told TechNewsWorld.

"Since specific ligands can be added to the surface of these magnetic -- or optical -- particles, specific cells can be targeted," Richards explained, including cancer cells, cancer-related biomarkers and lesions on organs.

From the patient's perspective, such a pill could lead to a radical change -- for the better -- from the current methods available, said Edward R. Flynn, chief scientific officer at Senior Scientific.

Finding and treating cancer possibly could be done without the use of radiation, for example.

"It would be done internally, with a pill, and without the use of invasive and expensive medical instruments," Flynn told TechNewsWorld.

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Take a Nano Pill and Call Google in the Morning?