Cancer And HIV Treatment With Nanoparticles
Researchers have managed to create a nano explosive combustible, from mixed nanomaterials that act as oxidizer and fuel. The combustible can generate shock waves that reach up to Mach 3. This nano smart bomb will be used to destroy cancer cells, without harming healthy cells.
The team is composed of researchers from the U.S Army and the University of Missouri-Columbia (UMC) and they use nanothermite composites, made of inorganic oxidizer and metallic fuel, because of it’s good combustion characteristics. They managed to get a large contact area between the oxidizer and fuel, using a low-density composite of copper oxide nanorods and nanoparticles of aluminum. All those can lead to a combustion that can propagate fast.
From their tests, it resulted that the combustion waves of the nano composites can reach velocities of up to 2300 m/s. Now they are planning to put the explosives in a needle and administer it to treat cancer and HIV. With a hand-held device they aim the tumor and destroy the tumor cells.
Until now, it seems to work on animals, but they haven’t tried yet on humans. Still, we won’t see it in use in less than two to five years.