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Barcode Reader
15 December 2016

Barcode Reader

Personalised treatments for cancer patients can fight the disease more effectively, but finding the best medication can take time. However, a very fast new technique could be able to test multiple treatments inside a patient’s tumour. Medicines are packaged inside nanoparticles called liposomes, and labelled with a 'DNA barcode' to indicate which medication is inside. The whole solution, which could contain several possible treatments, would then be injected into the patient. Shown here is a breast cancer cell, with the DNA barcode for a cancer treatment in green. After a couple of days, a tumour sample is taken and the DNA barcodes read. The number of barcodes for a particular drug that are found in dead tumour cells, as opposed to live ones, gives an idea of how effective the treatment is. This hasn’t been tested on humans yet, but looks very promising.

Written by Esther Redhouse White

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BPoD stands for Biomedical Picture of the Day. Managed by the MRC Laboratory of Medical Sciences until Jul 2023, it is now run independently by a dedicated team of scientists and writers. The website aims to engage everyone, young and old, in the wonders of biology, and its influence on medicine. The ever-growing archive of more than 4000 research images documents over a decade of progress. Explore the collection and see what you discover. Images are kindly provided for inclusion on this website through the generosity of scientists across the globe.

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