{"id":9311,"date":"2013-12-09T22:36:54","date_gmt":"2013-12-10T06:36:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/?p=9311"},"modified":"2017-06-04T12:12:22","modified_gmt":"2017-06-04T19:12:22","slug":"ibm-creates-nanotechnology-to-battle-fungal-infections","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2013\/12\/ibm-creates-nanotechnology-to-battle-fungal-infections","title":{"rendered":"IBM Creates Nanotechnology to Battle Fungal Infections"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"author-name\" href=\"http:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/users\/tim-parker\">Tim Parker<\/a>, Benzinga Staff Writer<\/p>\n<p>Before scientists create something that has mainstream uses, it often starts as science fiction.<\/p>\n<p>A new technology deep within <strong>IBM\u2019s<\/strong> (NYSE: <a class=\"ticker\" href=\"http:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/stock\/ibm#NYSE\">IBM<\/a> <a class=\"ino-url\" href=\"http:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/stock-trends\/IBM\/NYSE\" target=\"_blank\">[FREE Stock Trend Analysis]<\/a>) Singapore research facility isn\u2019t quite ready for the mainstream but when it is, the implications for those who suffer from fungal infections and later, other infections, could have a new ally in their fight but this ally is completely different than current treatments.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re a fan of Star Trek, you\u2019ve seen nanotechnology. These are microscopic machines that get inside machines or in this case, the body, to identify and fix problems.<\/p>\n<p>Scientists have developed a nanomedicine 1,000 times small than a grain of sand that fights fungal infections. Here\u2019s how it works: By creating an electrical charge on each of these tiny particles, they can be programmed to attack only fungal cells while leaving healthy cells alone.<\/p>\n<p>The particles attach themselves to the fungi and rip their cellular membranes apart killing the cell.<\/p>\n<p>This is different than conventional treatments in that it\u2019s a physical attack where the cell is torn apart instead of a drug-like attack where the cell is put to sleep. By killing the cell, there is no opportunity for it to develop a resistance to the nanoparticle. This eliminates the growing problem plaguing doctors: Infections that are increasingly becoming resistant to current therapies.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt rips the membrane out in a physical attack,\u201d said <a href=\"http:\/\/venturebeat.com\/2013\/12\/09\/goodbye-athletes-foot-ibm-researchers-craft-nanomedicine-to-kill-fungi-where-other-meds-fail\/\">IBM scientist<\/a>, James Hedric. \u201cIt\u2019s kind of like popping a balloon. We don\u2019t put them to sleep like most drugs do. We kill them. That is why it is so effective. And they can\u2019t adapt to a physical attack. They can adapt to drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n<div style=\"overflow: hidden; ; background-; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.benzinga.com\/general\/topics\/13\/12\/4138783\/ibm-creates-nanotechnology-to-battle-fungal-infections?utm_source=feedburner&amp;utm_medium=feed&amp;utm_campaign=Feed%3A+benzinga%2Ftech+%28Channels+-+Tech%29\" target=\"_blank\">Read more<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tim Parker, Benzinga Staff Writer Before scientists create something that has mainstream uses, it often starts as science fiction. A new technology deep within IBM\u2019s (NYSE: IBM [FREE Stock Trend Analysis]) Singapore research facility isn\u2019t quite ready for the mainstream but when it is, the implications for those who suffer from fungal infections and later, [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":76,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1507,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-environmental","category-nanotechnology"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/76"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9311"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9311\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65099,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9311\/revisions\/65099"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}