Nanoshells could aid in cancer detection
Skin cancer cells
DB: This is Earth & Sky. Scientists have created tiny sensors, smaller than a living cell, to detect changes in body chemistry known as pH.
JB: The sensors were made using nanotechnology, the science of the very small. They might someday aid in cancer detection, curing diabetes, and more. Earth & Sky spoke with research scientist Naomi Halas, Director of Rice University’s Laboratory for Nanophotonics in Houston.
Naomi Halas: People have known for years, for example, that the pH of a tumor is different whether the tumor is malignant or benign.
DB: Halas and her lab developed what they call “nanoshells:” tiny glass beads covered in gold. In a way similar to medical x–rays, the nanoshells can be fine tuned to scatter, or focus, light that the body is most transparent to.
Naomi Halas: We have taken our nanoparticles and covered them with a special molecular layer that has a sensitive light–scattering response to pH. So that means that what we’ve built by constructing that little particle is essentially a light–in, light–out pH meter.
JB: That’s our show. Join us in celebrating Earth & Sky 15th anniversary – and 5,000th radio show – at earthsky.org. With thanks to the National Science Foundation, we’re Block and Byrd for Earth & Sky.
Our thanks to:
Naomi Halas
Stanley C. Moore Professor in Electrical and Computer Engineering
and Professor of Chemistry
Rice University
Houston, TX
