Special Delivery

Cancer chemotherapy drugs can have horrible side-effects as they unavoidably impact upon the growth of healthy skin, hair and blood cells. Delivering drugs specifically into cancerous cells is challenging given their microscopic scale. This HeLa cervical cancer cell, grown in the lab with its membrane dyed green, measures only 1/125 of a centimetre across. A microscopic needle called a nanowire has been pushed through the cell’s outer membrane to inject a fluorescent microdot (emitting red light) into the cell. It is hoped that this approach could be adapted to selectively deliver chemicals straight into the heart of tumour cells in the human body. Similar nanowires attached to optical fibres can carry light into specific areas of a single cell, allowing further investigation into the chemistry, biology and physics of cellular life.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

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A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Ruoxue Yan
• Department of Chemistry, University of California, Berkeley, USA
• Reprinted by permission from Macmillan Publishers Ltd: Nature Nanotechnology Copyright 2012
• Published in Nature Nanotechnology 7(3); 141-203