In 1966, scientists made a huge breakthrough in nanomedicine. They found they could miniaturise a submarine and its crew and inject it into a patients bloodstream. The sub then wound its way through the patients body till it reached the brain, where the crew could then destroy a blood clot using laser guns.
Of course, this was pure science fiction. It was the plot of the movie Fantastic Voyage, a phantasmagorical thriller in which the intrepid crew of the Proteus had just one hour to save the life of a top scientist, while avoiding such dangers as voracious white blood cells, lymph nodes and enemy spies. As a kid, I was enthralled by the film: secret agents, giant man-eating antibodies, and Raquel Welch as a sexy scientist it was a boys own fantasy.
In real life, were a long way from shrinking people and sending them inside someones body to carry out surgical procedures. But we are able to use nanoparticles as intravenous couriers to deliver drugs to specific parts of the body, or to sneak tiny Trojan horses into cancerous cells to destroy them from the inside.
In Ireland, pioneering research into nanomed is being done at Crann, the Centre for Research on Adaptive Nanostructures and Nanodevices, Trinitys largest research institute.
Two leaders in the field of nanomedicine, Prof Yuri Volkov, chair of molecular and translational medicine and director of research at the TCD School of Medicine, and Prof Adriele Prina-Mello, are working together to develop ways to accurately attack illness using nanomaterials. Prof Volkov, whose team was working with cells and molecules and signalling processes, joined up with Prof Prina-Mello, whose team were perfecting nanomaterials.
It was the result of an opening up of a large-scale interdisciplinary collaboration within the college. And it merged into something where you can apply those nanoparticles for treatment and benefit in the biomedical setting. Thats how its developed, says Prof Volkov.
Prof Volkov also co-ordinates a Europe-wide consortium called Namdiatream, which co-ordinates expertise from around the EU to create nanotech toolkits for early diagnosis and treatment of cancer.
Nanomedicine is a relatively young science, but already it is making great strides, and, says Prof Volkov, nanoparticles are already being used to target disease at the cellular and even molecular level.
We are dealing with very small structures which are positioned in between the individual atoms, and small biological molecules such as proteins, says Prof Volkov.
Were talking about yokes a mere handful of atoms thick you wouldnt be using a tweezers. So how do you manipulate nanomaterials, and how can you even see whats going on at that level?
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Fantastic voyage in nanomedicine takes us into realm of science fiction