Tiny machine can find and destroy cancer cells

Research on the world's smallest machine at the molecular level won the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and can effectively destroy cancer cells.

Portraits of the three scientists who received the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry from left to right: Fraser Stoddart, Jean-Pierre Sauvage, Bernard L Feringa. Photo from the Internet

On October 12, the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences awarded the 2016 Nobel Prize in Chemistry worth $930,000 to three scientists: Jean-Pierre Sauvage at the University of Strasbourg (France), J. Fraser Stoddart at Northwestern University (USA) and Bernard L. Feringa at the University of Groningen (Netherlands), according to the New York Times.

They are pioneers in creating the world's smallest molecular machine, about one-thousandth the width of a human hair. The technology could be used to create new materials, sensors and energy storage systems.

"In terms of development, today's molecular motors are like the electric motor in the 1830s. Back then, scientists displayed countless models of cranks and wheels, not knowing that one day they would lead to electric trains, washing machines, fans, and food processors," the Nobel Committee for Chemistry said.

Illustration of tiny machines that destroy cancer cells. Photo: Student Newspaper.

Nanotechnology creates structures that are nanometers in size, or billionths of a meter. It is a field of research that has achieved great success over the past few centuries.

In 1983, Jean-Pierre Sauvage took the first steps toward building a molecular machine when he created two interlocking molecular rings using copper ions. These molecules were called catenanes.

In 1991, Fraser Stoddart synthesized rotaxane, a ring-shaped molecule that wraps around a dumbbell-shaped molecular axis. This ring-shaped molecule can slide along the axis, like a bead on an abacus. Stoddart used this to build a small computer chip that is essentially a molecular abacus, as well as other complex devices such as molecular elevators and artificial muscles.

In 1999, Bernard Feringa became the first person to build a molecular motor. It was a tiny molecular propeller powered by light, spinning continuously in the same direction. The motor didn’t spin very fast, but 15 years later Feringa and his colleagues pushed the speed to 12 million revolutions per second. In 2011, Feringa’s team attached four similar motors to a molecular chassis, creating a four-wheeled nanocar.

In living organisms, there are many molecular machines that transport materials around cells, build protein structures, and participate in cell division. Compared to them, artificial molecular machines are still quite simple, but scientists hope the new technology will have many applications in the future.

“Think about nanomachines, tiny robots that doctors will pump into your bloodstream in the future that will autonomously seek out and destroy cancer cells and deliver drugs,” Feringa said. “This technology could lead to the creation of smart materials that change their properties based on external signals.”

According to VNE