What do patients and doctors imagine when they think of the ideal treatment? Many treatments used for severe diseases today effectively turn the human body into a war zone. This means that much of the ammo targeted at disease agents—whether radiation or powerful antibiotics—catch a patient’s own cells in the crossfire. The ideal treatment would be easy to employ, effective against the enemy pathogen, efficient in its work, and quick to cure the patient of illness. Many diseases have no such treatment available, and worse still, even some of the most physically grueling treatments—such as chemotherapy—can become less effective over time. However, growing research on nanomachines offers new reasons for hope.

Researchers led by James Tour of Rice University, Robert Pal of Durham University, and Gufeng Wang of North Carolina State University recently developed and tested nano-sized molecular machines that may hold the key to treating diseases through mechanical attacks that leave healthy cells unharmed. The original design for these molecular motors was based on work by Nobel laureate Bernard Feringa.

Yale Scientific

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