article: Doctors create tiny, magnetized disease fighters ...

January 15, 2008

Wonder if they could develop something to cling to mercury and other

metals? I wouldn't be keen on injesting a magnet though ...

Doctors create tiny, magnetized disease fighters

Bead-shaped magnets bind with receptor molecules on cell walls

By Clara Moskowitz

LiveScience

updated 8:42 p.m. ET, Mon., Jan. 14, 2008

By injecting tiny magnets into your body, doctors hope to treat

diseases without using chemicals or hormones. Don't worry about

sticking to the refrigerator — the nano-sized magnets are only

strong enough to affect your cells.

For the first time, doctors created bead-shaped magnets that bind

with receptor molecules on cell walls. When a magnetic field is

applied, the beads are attracted to each other and pull together,

dragging the receptors with them. As they cluster, the receptors

release biochemical signals that trigger cell functions.

" This technology allows us to control the behavior of living cells

through magnetic forces rather than chemicals or hormones, " said

biologist Don Ingber of Children's Hospital Boston, who devised the

technique.

The researchers used the magnets to stimulate an influx of calcium

into immune system cells, proving the beads can trigger an important

signal common to many cells.

The results of the study will be published in the January issue of

the journal Nature Nanotechnology.

The technique could be used in different types of cells, and acts

almost instantaneously, instead of taking minutes or hours as drugs

do. Ingber said he envisions using the nanomagnets to create a

pacemaker that could be controlled externally or to treat diabetes

without the need for injections of insulin.

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