Google (NSDQ:GOOG) is reportedly working on a pill designed to use magnetized nanoparticles to detect cancer and other conditions.
"Because the core of these particles is magnetic, you can call them somewhere," said Andrew Conrad, life sciences head for the tech firm’s Google X research operation, according to Wired. "These little particles go out and mingle with the people, we call them back to one place, and we ask them: ‘Hey, what did you see? Did you find cancer? Did you see something that looks like a fragile plaque for a heart attack? Did you see too much sodium?"
Conrad said patients would wear a device designed to gather the nanoparticles into the superficial veins inside the wrist, according to the magazine. The particles would combine the magnetic material with antibodies or proteins that attach to and detect other molecules.
"Google X’s job is to take on big problems, to try to find clever solutions to big problems, and one of the problems we decided to tackle was healthcare," Conrad said. "The way in which we envision doing this is inverting the paradigm in medicine – which is currently reactive and episodic – to a new paradigm that is proactive and cumulative."
Google is already working on a spate of healthcare-related projects, including a smart contact lens designed to monitor blood glucose levels in diabetics in partnership with Alcon, the eye care division of Novartis(NYSE:NVS); a Big Data project to collect and analyze genomic and molecular data; and its Google Fit foray into digital health.
The company is looking for partners for the nanoparticle project, Conrad said.