School is back in session so it’s time for another edition of Rice Science Friday. Or Monday. Or Wednesday. Or whatever.
Today’s subject is cancer. Specifically, that last cancer cell which defines whether you’re really cured or just "in remission."
When patients are given radiation, they’re just given beta particles, which move quickly but lack real power. Alpha particles, which contain protons and neutrons, pack more of a punch and move more slowly, but they can also kill you.
Grad student (and demon flag footballer) Keith Hartman worked with a radiation oncologist and research scientist at the University of Washington (Go Huskies) to load radioactive astatine inside carbon nanotubes. (The astatine came from the UW’s cyclotron.) This can go after a single cancer cell and absolutely obliterate it.
To make this practical, of course, we’re going to have to use something
other than astatine, whose major advantage of a short half-life (thus
less body exposure to radiation after it’s put in there) and extreme
rarity makes it impractical in therapeutic work.
Still, this is the first time that radioactive particles have been
encased in nanotubes, a methodology which holds promise for killing
those last cancer cells and leaving the rest of the body untouched.
What makes this interesting to me is that you have a graduate student,
rather than a professor, leading the work from the Rice side. Another
proof that, when it comes to chemistry, Rice has built a dynasty.
