It’s like something out of a sci-fi movie – tiny robots zipping around through your veins zapping dangerous microbes. Except this isn’t some fictional scenario out of a Star Trek movie. It’s real-life technology thanks to gold.
Scientists have developed gold “robots” coated with a membrane that neutralizes dangerous pathogens such as MRSA.
This is just the latest in a growing list of technological applications for the yellow metal.
Professor Liangfang Zhang and his associates at the University of California San Diego developed these tiny robots. The scientists started with microscopic lengths of gold nanowire and used a chemical process to coat them with a hybrid of platelet and red blood cells. The tiny fibers can then be injected into the bloodstream and propelled by ultrasound.
These coated nanobots measure approximately one twenty-fifth the size of the width of a human hair. When subjected to ultrasound, the bots can travel through blood at a rate of 35 micrometers per second. As they move through the blood, pathogens bond to surface proteins in the platelet membranes. Meanwhile, the red blood cell membranes neutralize toxins created by the bacteria.
Researchers say in tests, the micro-robots reduced the number of bacteria in MRSA-tainted blood by two-thirds within five minutes. They plan to begin testing the bots in animals in the near future.