Diamond treatment of cancer from laboratory to clinical will no longer be far away

       We do not expect diamond to have any relationship with cancer treatment, but in fact diamond can improve the survival rate of cancer patients.



      "Using traditional techniques, it is almost impossible to determine whether cancer treatment is 100% or 99% effective, and this difference can have significant consequences because cancer cells can still spread in the body even if there are only a few surviving cancer cells in the body. Diamond sensors will be very sensitive to the detection of a small number of healthy cells in a small number of cancer cells, "Danish University of Science and Technology Associate Professor Alexander Huck said.



      Diamonds are not purchased from jewelers, they are man-made diamonds, the surface with a thin layer of microns, with the special performance required for the measurement.



      The method is based on a magnetic biomarker that binds to cancer cells but can not bind to healthy cells, which is a known method. The hard part is that although you have created a magnetic difference between the two cells, it requires a very sensitive sensor to detect the magnetic field around each marker.



      The most famous example of a magnetic sensor is a compass. The guide is sensitive to the Earth's magnetic field, which senses the magnetic field strength between 30-40 microtzla. Cancer diagnosis needs to be able to sense dozens of Natesla's magnetic field strength.



      Diamond sensor resolution of about 1 micron. "We wanted to be able to distinguish between biological cells and we wanted to be able to detect and isolate cancer cells in one million healthy cells," said Alexander Harker.



      Why use a diamond to detect a magnetic field?



      Diamond consists of carbon atoms that remain in a fixed three-dimensional grid. It does not interact with the magnetic field and is therefore not suitable as a sensor. However, Alexander Huck and researchers from Ulm and Leipzig University have changed the structure to get a defective structure. In each defective structure, the carbon atom is replaced by a nitrogen atom, which also creates many pores in the lattice of the carbon atoms so that the atoms disappear and then the diamond is heated to about 800 ° C, which results in a pore Move until they are adjacent to the nitrogen atom. Then the nitrogen atoms and holes combine to form a single structure - a NV (nitrogen vacancy) center. The center's role is to absorb light from the green part of the spectrum, the center will emit red light.



      Each of the NV centers in the diamond also has electron spin. Spin can be up or down, deciding how much red light to emit. In addition to the upper and lower rotation, it also has a cyclical change, just as the earth not only in its axis rotation, the rotation axis also changes. The speed and magnitude of these cyclical changes are affected by the surrounding magnetic field. In other words, the magnetic field can be studied by measuring the periodic variation of the spin. This is done by illuminating the green light on the defect center and detecting how much red light is emitted.



      The method utilizes a superposition method, a quantum mechanical phenomenon in which particles can be simultaneously in two states. "More specifically, we ensure that the spin of the electrons oscillates up and down at the same time, and the two spins of the center behave differently in the magnetic field." Alexander Huck explains that by detecting the up and down swing variables of the spin, we can determine the magnetic field. Unlike the electric field, when the electric field encounters tissue, blood and bone, it is significantly affected, and the magnetic field is largely unaffected.



      From the laboratory to the hospital



      Diamond in medicine also has many advantages. It is a very healthy material, with physical contact and no health risk.



      The Danish University of Science and Technology School of Physics is not the first to propose the use of diamonds as magnetic field sensors. As early as the 1990s, many international organizations have begun to study and make them a reality. However, with the Danish University of Science and Technology Department of Electrical Engineering and the interdisciplinary cooperation with Hvidovre Hospital and Philips gave Alexander Hark and his colleagues a leading position in medical care.



      "We can say that this method is closely related to the second stage of cancer patients, they received cancer treatment, doctors need to determine the treatment effect.However, to develop equipment used in the hospital equipment, there is still a long way to go. The next step is to work with Danish University of Science and Technology to study nanotechnology colleagues to design the right equipment. "Alexander Harker hopes to create the first generation of equipment within two years. At the same time he said, "If we decide to further develop in a new company, then the best time may be when we are ready for the first prototype, about two years, but there are other options, such as we and Now we need to consider the scope of use of the device, its application is not limited to the field of cancer.When the electronic movement from A to B, it will produce a small local magnetic field.If there is a sufficient Sensitive magnetic field sensor, we can detect many of the processes in the body.It is non-invasive technology, no surgery or probe.Therefore, for the key parts of the body such as brain or heart, this technology will be a better choice. "