Carbon Nano Tubes in the Human Body - There Are Some Real Opportunities and Challenges

You may not know this, but human blood causes degradation of carbon structures. You shouldn't be too surprised about this because the human body is partly made of carbon, so obviously the species has evolved to handle it, which is kind of funny if you think about it, especially for one of those people who is trying to reduce their carbon footprint. The best way to do that is go on a diet; do you see what I mean? Okay, but all jokes aside I'd like to discuss this with you for a moment if I might.

Last year, I was talking to a scientist and researcher about the possibility of using graphene and Carbon Nanotubes in the human body and human brain to interface with the human biosystem. That would be a challenge if the enzymes in the blood attacked the structures, and yes, there's probably a way around that challenge, but it is exactly that challenge which may help us deliver drugs to certain parts of the body encased in carbon nanotubes.

There was an interesting article on the MIT Physics arXiv Blog recently titled; "Exploding Carbon Nanotubes Could Act as Drug Grenades - Heating water inside carbon nanotubes until they explode could deliver drugs precisely, say chemists," by KFC posted on 2-14-2012. The article stated;

"Carbon nanotubes tubes filled with drugs and sealed with biodegradable caps, could work their way inside cells where they deliver their load, but may not target the drugs well enough if the caps degrade too quickly or too slowly. Researcher's concept is to fill the tubes with a mixture of drugs and water molecules and seal them with a secure cap. Inside the body, the tubes enter various types of cell. But a treatment would involve illuminating only the cells of interest with an infrared laser which heats the tubes and boils the water they contain. The resulting increase in pressure bursts the cap and forces the water and drug molecules into the cell, like a grenade bursting."

Okay so, that's a rather complicated explanation, but you can certainly see where they're coming from, and what they're trying to do. I would submit to you that it maybe a lot easier than we think trying to accomplish this mission in the name of biotech, and the next generation of future cancer curing drugs. You see, there are so many diseases, viruses, and problems that we face, and are trying to tackle with modern medicine, that having the ability to do this, gives humans the advantage over those things which challenge the body.

Of course, if you are trying to deliver the drugs to a certain point, and ensure that those carbon nanotube vessels and micron scale torpedoes if you will deliver on demand, then it should be fairly easy to engineer them in such a way which allows the body to do most of the work, with only slight frequency, or energy intervention to do just as the scientists suggest above. We may not need to "explode" the end caps, just allow them to dissolve naturally, by making them the proper thickness.

If we make them with multiple thicknesses, this might act as a timed release strategy. What I'm saying is that we might be able to do even more than is suggested by these brilliant researchers. So please consider all this and think on it. Indeed, if you are Researcher of biotech, I'd like you to please consider this if you will, and think on it.


Article Source: Lance Winslow