If you don’t know about it already, Graphene is a wonder material of our times. It is basically carbon atoms arranged in two dimensional hexagonal lattices, that are a single atom thick, but it finds uses in all fields. Semiconductors, smartphones, Flexible screens,batteries, bullet proof vests, they are everywhere. Now the medical researchers from the University of Manchester and the University of Calabria have found another use for graphene – for cancer treatment. So for all the older folks who blame you smart devices, soon you might be able to proudly raise your smart phone and say that the solution for one of the biggest problems of humanity was in your phone.
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The new research shows how graphene can be used to stimulate living cells. This technique can be used to exploit the weakness in cancer cells and kill them off without affecting the nearby heathy cells. According to IEEE Spectrum reports the new discovery was a result of the experiment held by University of California San Diego biophysicist Alex Savchenko and his colleagues.
Graphene has the unique capability to convert light energy in to electricity. So the team decided to test whether that electrical charge could stimulate dead live human cells. They played around with a few combinations of light and types of graphene and finally achieved the result they were after. “I was looking at the microscope’s computer screen and I’m turning the knob for light intensity and I see the cells start beating faster,” Savchenko explains. “I showed that to our grad students and they were yelling and jumping and asking if they could turn the knob. We had never seen this possibility of controlling cell contraction.”
Besides fighting cancer , the technology has a lot of other potential from enhancing stem cell treatment to customising pain killers to target just the pain causing nerves. At least for now, the research is entirely theoretical but we have the best brains working on it. Let’s hope…
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