In a revolutionary research, a British engineer developed a new technology that could draw deadly infections like leukaemia, sepsis and malaria from the body using magnets. His device could be used in clinical trials as soon as next year.
Biochemical scientist George Frodsham, the CEO of MediSieve, a spin-off from University College London (UCL), designed the blood filtering system while studying how magnetic nanoparticles can be made to bind to cells to make them detectable during imaging. He thought the same technique might allow doctors to remove unwanted cells from the blood.
Frodsham said, “When someone has a tumour you cut it out,” “Blood cancer is a tumour in the blood, so why not just take it out in the same way?”
His device known as ‘MediSieve’, works similarly to dialysis. Blood is taken from a patient and is infused with magnetic nanoparticles designed to bind to a specific disease. These nanoparticles attach to specific targets. It then uses magnets to draw out and trap those cells. Filtered blood is then pumped back into the patient.
Recently Frodsham won the BBSRC (Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council) Innovator of the Year Award. Presently, Frodsham’s team is waiting for the approval from the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency for human trials.
Frodsham said, “In theory, you can go after almost anything,” “Poisons, pathogens, viruses, bacteria, anything that we can specifically bind to we can remove. So it’s a very powerful potential tool.”
