Cell killer

A US engineer has developed a laser 'microscalpel' that destroys single cells while leaving nearby cells intact.
 
If commercialised, such a system would enable surgeons to remove a cancerous cell with high precision without damaging the cells above and below it while viewing the procedure while it was underway.

The system itself is built around a femtosecond laser that produces extremely brief, high-energy light pulses that sear a targeted cell so quickly and accurately the lasers’ heat has no time to escape and damage nearby healthy cells.

It includes a tiny, flexible probe that focuses the light pulses to a spot size smaller than human cells. Within a few years, mechanical engineering Assistant Professor Adela Ben-Yakar at the University of Texas at Austin expects to shrink the probe’s 15mm diameter three-fold, so it would match the size of the endoscopes used today for laparoscopic surgery.

Ben-Yakar is also investigating the use of nanoparticles to focus the light energy on targeted cells. Last year, she demonstrated that gold nanoparticles can function as nano-scale magnifying lenses, increasing the laser light reaching cells by at least ten fold.