Tiny gold probes discovered to help diagnose disease

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh have developed a technique that could potentially reduce deaths from blood clotting and thrombosis.

Each year 25,000 people die from clotting and related blood problems in the United Kingdom.

Dr Colin Campbell, head of the research team, told The Journal: “What we’ve developed here is a general approach which will have applications to several areas of disease—we are already beginning to look at auto-immune diseases such as Goodpasture’s syndrome."

Gold probes are used by scientists to explore and learn from the behaviour of cells.

The chemical sensors are inserted into cells and subjected to a laser light which is then absorbed and re-emitted by the probe, causing proteins in the cell to vibrate according to their shape.

As diseases progress, molecules change shape and emit different frequencies of vibration that scientists can now monitor safely, in order to indicate the presence and advancement of disease.

The probe is too small to be detected by the human eye, measuring 120 nanometers in diameter, and is coated in a thin layer of the unreactive metal gold - this prevents the implant from being rejected by the body or causing damage to surrounding cells.

In addition, the gold coating functions as an ‘amplifier’; producing clearer signals for the sensitive measurement technique and ultimately making this a useful tool for studying diseases on a very small scale.

The microscopic gold probes are yet to be tested on patients and possible side effects have not been ruled out.

Dr Campbell added: “Our preliminary investigations in cells show no adverse effects and we continue to test new sensors as we develop them.

“However, a huge amount of further research is required to get a technology like ours from ‘the bench to the bedside.’”