Healing with magnets

One day, magnets can be used to pull genes moving in the body, for certain treatments, a Swiss scientist said. According to the idea that was tested on this sheep, the magnet will attract iron oxide particles (nanoscale) that attach to the genes. When moving a magnet, the gene will be dragged along.

The plan is to use magnets to attract iron ion particles attached to the gene.(Photo: iStockphoto)

However, Professor Heinrich Hofmann from Fédérale de Lausanne Polytechnic in Switzerland, the author of the study, said that more safety tests will be needed before applying this technology to humans.

Genetic therapies have long encountered many problems, including the lack of a safe and effective carrier to transfer therapeutic genes into cells. Traditional carriers have long been viruses - which can mutate and affect DNA in cells.

Hofmann says his nanoscale iron ion particles are safer than viruses."Iron ion particles are much less dangerous than a virus , " he said.

He also said that controlling nanoparticles would be more accurate than controlling viruses because they could be pulled into the necessary position with a magnet.

In a recent experiment, Hofmann injected nanoparticles attached to a green fluorescently regulated gene into the sheep's joint, then used a magnet to pull that gene into place. Sheep cells have produced green fluorescent proteins, proving the success of the experiment.

In other applications, Hofmann uses magnets and iron oxide particles to activate the growth of bone stem cells.

T. An