GOLD WATER COCKTAILS SAVE LIVES
It’s an elegant recipe, with just a few simple ingredients, invented by some extremely talented mixologists. The ingredients: Purified water, DNA powder, colloidal gold particles, and just a drop of blood. Not sure which is better, shaken or stirred. It’s a new cocktail that might just save your life. It aims to detect and target cancer cells and viruses very specifically, leaving surrounding healthy cells to live in peace.
Using the same kind of biosensor technology that colors the window in DIY pregnancy tests, researchers from the University of Toronto's Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) have figured out how to bind gold nano-powder to DNA strands. When the golden strands meet up with a targeted disease gene that may be present in a blood or saliva sample, they clump and turn cancer cells and tumors golden too. Like a mini Midas touch. This makes them visible so they can be detected with extreme precision.
Photo: Philip Oshel, University of Wisconsin, EELS Image of Gold Particles
These new DNA/Gold concoctions could be used to detect viral diseases, like HIV, malaria, and HPV. In fact, Kyryl Zagorovsky, a student at the university, has developed a version that can detect multiple diseases in one small sample, simultaneously. His potion includes a DNA-based enzyme which works by detaching the DNA strands from the gold nanoparticles when they touch disease genes is lurking in a sample. This turns the samples red.
Photo: Courtesy of Nanolab, Colloidal Gold
Better still, scientists have developed these ingredients entirely in powder form, so they can be stored and shipped relatively cheaply. That means they can be widely distributed in poverty and disease stricken areas that are most in need. All you have to do is add water and mix. This beautiful cocktail, more than any other, calls for this particular toast: L’Chaim! (To Life!)
