Google researchers, including those of Indian-origin, are developing a pill coated with tiny nanoparticles that can help detect cancer and heart disease.
The Internet giant's research unit, Google X, is working on technology that combines disease-detecting nanoparticles, which would enter a patient's bloodstream via a swallowed pill, with a wrist-worn sensor.
The technology aims to constantly monitor the blood for the unique traces of cancer, allowing diagnosis long before any physical symptoms appear.
"What we are trying to do is change medicine from reactive and transactional to proactive and preventative," said Dr Andrew Conrad, a molecular biologist who is leading the diagnostic project.
"Nanoparticles give you the ability to explore the body at a molecular and cellular level," Conrad said.
The nanoparticles being designed are intended to match markers for different conditions. They could be tailored to stick to a cancerous cell or a fragment of cancerous DNA.
They could also find evidence of fatty plaques about to break free from the lining of blood vessels. These can cause a heart attack or stroke if they stop the flow of blood.
High levels of potassium are linked to kidney disease. Google believes it will be possible to construct porous nanoparticles that alter colour as potassium passes through, 'BBC News' reported.
"Then [you can] recall those nanoparticles to a single location - because they are magnetic - and that location is the superficial vasculature of the wrist, [where] you can ask them what they saw," said Conrad.
The tech company will also create a wristband that would take readings of the nanoparticles via light and radio waves one or more times a day.
Google has hired more than 100 experts for the nanotechnology project from disciplines including astrophysicists, immunology, biology, oncology, cardiology and chemistry, 'Wall Street Journal' said in a blog.
Members of Google X's Life Sciences team who are working on the nanotechnology project include Vikram Bajaj, the scientific lead for Google X's nanotechnology programme.
Bajaj is an expert in areas like molecular imaging, magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) for diagnostics, the structural biology of neurodegenerative disease, millimeter wave devices and clinical bioinformatics.
Another researcher Sanjeev Mariathasan is the scientific lead for systems immunology on the nanotechnology project. His research interests include mechanisms of inflammation, malignant blood disorders and infectious disease.
