Nano fights cancer

They are only a few nanometers in size, but their impact is tremendous: The tiny particles drive cancer cells to their death in no time at all. At nano tech 2006 in Japan from February 21 to 23 Fraunhofer researchers will demonstrate the great efficiency of nanoscopic particles as a vehicle for drug delivery.

Medicines that will make their own way through the body and attack precisely the diseased cells on reaching their destination – such has been the dream of physicians and pharmacists since time immemorial. Fraunhofer researchers working in the Nanotechnology Alliance have now come a little closer to reaching this goal. They have developed bio-functional nanoparticles that cause necrosis in cancer cells. "These cell-like structures have a solid nucleus surrounded by proteins that detect and destroy cancer cells," explains Dr. Günter Tovar of the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology IGB.