Skip to content
Surprising Science

Nano-Velco Nabs Cancer Cells

Researchers have developed a device inspired by Velcro that “grabs” tumor cells circulating in a cancer victim’s blood stream. The device uses nano-scale technology to filter blood.
Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

A new nanotechnology tool allows for a more effective biopsy which scientists believe will aid in earlier cancer detection. “The device works at the nanoscale level to efficiently identify free-floating cancer cells and could aid both cancer research and treatment, scientists say. Circulating tumor cells, or CTCs, play a crucial role in cancer metastasis, which is the most common cause of cancer-related death in patients with solid tumors. Metastasis occurs when marauding CTCs leave the primary tumor site and travel through the blood stream to set up colonies in other parts of the body.”

Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

Related

Up Next
This year’s T.E.D. ideas summit produced some ideas worth repeating: Being wrong is as essential to life as being right, the rise of the “filter bubble,” and others…