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tanarillWell, okay, so that was more like a month. Exactly a month, even.
What have I been up to? Well, I did indeed spend a week or so relaxing and doing nothing much. Then I caught a flight to California, where my family is. They are doing well, unpacking a house that is full of boxes (some of which they required me to do as well, and generally settling in the a land full of insane people.
How insane, you ask? It is legal to drive on the lane dividers on the highway.
While I as out there, I visited the massively gorgeous UC Santa Barbara campus, which is interestingly not in Santa Barbara. This is school that has produced something like five Nobel winners in the past ten years. I talked to the Interesting Professor, and he told me about his research. I shall attempt to explain.
The first step is to make gold of silver nanoshells, using methods I have previously described. Then you add a chromophore, which is chemical-speak for a dye. ( I should make the point here that even though the gold nanoparticles are colorful, what we actually look at is the way the dye changes the color. The gold is there to amplify the signal.) That lets us see, pretty much down to a single molecule (it's very sensitive) whether the dye is there or not. Since the dye is stuck the the gold, it's also a pretty good measure of gold. The second thing you attach is a cancer cell antibody. These are things that your body produces to fight cancer, and interestingly, they are type-specific. A colon cancer antibody won't go after a breast cancer cell, and a breast cancer antibody won't go after a brain cancer cell.
To use these, you inject a small amount into the patient. Because the method is so sensitive, this amount is far, far below toxicity. Then, two minutes later, you take a small blood sample. The reading from this blood sample is your baseline. You take another blood sample, say, half an hour later. If the antibodies found cancer cells and bound to them, there will be less gold in your blood, and so you'll see this drop in the reading. That's bad, because it means you have cancer. If, on the other hand, the level is fairly constant, then that means there's no cancer. Huzzah!
Since this method is so very sensitive, it can detect cancer at very low levels - when it is still only a few scattered cells, even, long before it's a tumor or even a polyp large enough to see. That's good, because it means you can treat it while it's still weak. The second thing is that it's much more comfortable than getting, say, a colonoscopy or a mammogram. It's an injection and two blood drawings. Sadly, much of this research is still at the "stick things to gold" part. But hopefully it will be ready by the time I'd otherwise have to start having colonoscopies. Because those are ick.
Then, after California, I came home, had a few day to adjust back to Michigan time, and hopped off to work. It's tedious but not difficult. So I'm working again, which means I am making monies again. And I am back! ^_^
What have I been up to? Well, I did indeed spend a week or so relaxing and doing nothing much. Then I caught a flight to California, where my family is. They are doing well, unpacking a house that is full of boxes (some of which they required me to do as well, and generally settling in the a land full of insane people.
How insane, you ask? It is legal to drive on the lane dividers on the highway.
While I as out there, I visited the massively gorgeous UC Santa Barbara campus, which is interestingly not in Santa Barbara. This is school that has produced something like five Nobel winners in the past ten years. I talked to the Interesting Professor, and he told me about his research. I shall attempt to explain.
The first step is to make gold of silver nanoshells, using methods I have previously described. Then you add a chromophore, which is chemical-speak for a dye. ( I should make the point here that even though the gold nanoparticles are colorful, what we actually look at is the way the dye changes the color. The gold is there to amplify the signal.) That lets us see, pretty much down to a single molecule (it's very sensitive) whether the dye is there or not. Since the dye is stuck the the gold, it's also a pretty good measure of gold. The second thing you attach is a cancer cell antibody. These are things that your body produces to fight cancer, and interestingly, they are type-specific. A colon cancer antibody won't go after a breast cancer cell, and a breast cancer antibody won't go after a brain cancer cell.
To use these, you inject a small amount into the patient. Because the method is so sensitive, this amount is far, far below toxicity. Then, two minutes later, you take a small blood sample. The reading from this blood sample is your baseline. You take another blood sample, say, half an hour later. If the antibodies found cancer cells and bound to them, there will be less gold in your blood, and so you'll see this drop in the reading. That's bad, because it means you have cancer. If, on the other hand, the level is fairly constant, then that means there's no cancer. Huzzah!
Since this method is so very sensitive, it can detect cancer at very low levels - when it is still only a few scattered cells, even, long before it's a tumor or even a polyp large enough to see. That's good, because it means you can treat it while it's still weak. The second thing is that it's much more comfortable than getting, say, a colonoscopy or a mammogram. It's an injection and two blood drawings. Sadly, much of this research is still at the "stick things to gold" part. But hopefully it will be ready by the time I'd otherwise have to start having colonoscopies. Because those are ick.
Then, after California, I came home, had a few day to adjust back to Michigan time, and hopped off to work. It's tedious but not difficult. So I'm working again, which means I am making monies again. And I am back! ^_^
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no subject
Date: 2010-07-19 11:24 pm (UTC)Welcome back!