Google[x] has revealed Nano Pills that can seek out cancerous cells in the body. If the project becomes successful, detecting cancer will become as easy as just popping a pill.
While speaking at the Wall Street Journal Digital conference, Andrew Conrad, Google’s head of life sciences said Google[x] lab has been working on a wearable device that couples with nanotechnology to detect diseases within the body.
Conrad said they are passionate about switching from reactive to proactive approach and that they are working to provide tools to make this project successful.
Google[x] team is very keen on health projects. The Nano Pill is their third project. They have already developed utensils that help manage hand tremors in Parkinson’s patients and smart contact lens that can detect glucose levels for the diabetic.
The team wants to find out if tiny particles coated with antibodies can detect a disease in its nascent stage. These tiny particles are programmed to move throughout the body via pill and then key on to abnormal cells.
The tiny particles are then called back by the wearable device that will ‘ask’ them what’s going on in the body.
Conrad likened it to a mini self-driving car with clear reference to Google[x]’s vehicular project.
“We can make it park where we want it to,” Conrad said and added that the body is more important than a car. He compared our present healthcare system with something that basically only tries to change our oil after we’ve broken down. Something that he believes is very reactive.
Conrad says if this project becomes a success we will not need to go to a doctor and give blood and urine samples. All we’ll have to do is to swallow the pill to help monitor for disease on daily basis. And we’ll also be able to upload the data to the cloud and send it to the doctor.
Google has engaged a team of 100 employees to work on this project. The team comprises chemistry, electrical engineering and astrophysics experts. They want to starve off death by preventing disease.
