snag scarce and hard-to-capture tumor cells tagged posts

If approved for use in humans, the magnetic wire (depicted in gray) would be inserted into a vein in the arm (in light pink) and attract floating cancer cells labeled with magnetic nanoparticles (light green and gray) that have come from the tumor (neon green). Courtesy of Sam Gambhir

A magnetic wire used to snag scarce and hard-to-capture tumor cells could prove to be a swift and effective tactic for early cancer detection, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine. The wire, which is threaded into a vein, attracts special magnetic nanoparticles engineered to glom onto tumor cells that may be roaming the bloodstream if you have a tumor somewhere in your body...