BioRobots
A new study released in Nature Biotechnology, showed how nanobots can be used to stop blood flow to a tumor cell. This is a DNA based bio-nano-robot, that contains thrombin, an enzyme responsible for blood clotting. They are specifically designed to attach to nucleolin, a protein on the surface of a tumor blood vessel. This connection allow a very precise blood clotting within a 48 hour period. The robots were used on mice with a breast cancer tumors and didn’t cause any other clotting. This procedure showed a decrease in size and growth of the tumor. This is one of the first step with a new approach to treat cancer and there is still a lot of work that needs to be done.