Engineer Finds Way to Pull Diseases From Blood Using Magnets

Futurism ^ | 12 Nov 2019 | Kristin Houser

[Theoria]

A British engineer has found a way to filter unwanted cells from blood using magnets — and his tool could be used in clinical trials as soon as next year.

Thanks to existing research, biochemical scientist George Frodsham knew it was possible to force magnetic nanoparticles to bind to specific cells in the body. But while other researchers did so primarily to make those cells show up in images, he wondered whether the same technique might allow doctors to remove unwanted cells from the blood.

“When someone has a tumour you cut it out,” he told The Telegraph. “Blood cancer is a tumour in the blood, so why not just take it out in the same way?”

To that end, he created MediSieve, a treatment technology that works similarly to dialysis, by removing a patient’s blood and infusing it with magnetic nanoparticles designed to bind to a specific disease. It then uses magnets to draw out and trap those cells before pumping the filtered blood back into the patient.

The idea is that doctors could run a person’s blood through the machine several times until their levels of the disease are low enough to be wiped out by drugs or even the patient’s own immune system.

Frodsham’s team is currently awaiting approval from the United Kingdom’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency to trial the system on patients infected with the malaria parasite, which is naturally magnetic thanks to its consumption of its own iron-based waste product.

[Freedom_Is_Not_Free]

The article discusses a practical application, not theory. Maybe the theory has been around for 10 years, but not the practical application. That is a leap.

[infool7]

Out-of-the-box thinkers are some of the most valuable people on the planet. How many years have they been doing this magnetic nanoparticle binding stuff for imaging, and then this one guy comes along and says, "Hey, couldn't we do this other thing with it?" There must be rooms full of doctors staring at each other, saying, "Why didn't I think of that?"

My thoughts exactly!

It actually hurt (the front part of) my brain when I first read it.

7

[CatOwner]

Therein lies the problem with DuckDuckGo. You have your search privacy protected (to a point), but you also lack a lot of information that Google returns (for better or for worse). There is no perfect search solution.

[moovova]

Incredibly clever.

[11th_VA]

“More Leaches !!!!”

[LaMudBug]

Can this treatment be used on Chronic Kidney Disease early stages to improve the gfr score? If anyone knows, please post a response.

[richardtavor]

What a great idea! A disease filter...

[Fedora]

More on this: "The way in which traditional dialysis filters the blood is non-specific, and simply relies on molecular weight to remove individual blood components. By contrast, MediSieve uses biocompatible magnetic particles coated with binding agents (such as antibodies) which target specific blood components. It then uses magnetic forces to extract these magnetic particles, and crucially, the blood targets they’re bound to. MediSieve’s blood filtration device The whole process takes place outside the body and the MediSieve system is designed to integrate with existing hospital peristaltic haemofiltration pumps. George commented: “Using this method, practically anything can be removed from the blood, including specific cell populations, pathogens, toxins, inflammatory cytokines and even potentially viruses. “The vision is to revolutionise the treatment of diseases like malaria, sepsis, leukaemia and others, improving patient outcomes, and ultimately saving lives.” MediSieve’s first product for malaria has completed pre-clinical validation and is ready to enter clinical trials. Its second product for sepsis is undergoing pre-clinical validation.": ‘Innovator of the Year Award’ for UCL alumnus who developed revolutionary blood filtration device

[Nifster]

Oh right. This and chelation

Please pass the tin foil

[Rashputin]

Even if this only works on a subset of the known bacteria that causes great harm it could reduce the use of antibiotics the over use of which now leads to immunizing some strains of bacteria against the least expensive antibiotics.

[BuffaloJack]

Well done to George Frodsham.
A thinking outside the box solution to a problem.

[Redcitizen]

Out of the box thinkers sometimes get crucified, burnt at the stake,put on trial. But they’re the ones that keep progress happening.

[Kirkwood]

I saw this way back in the 1970s as a cancer cure, but it didn’t work. It’s like having a house full of termites and your getting rid of only the ones that happen to walk into a trap you set out.

[Aria]

Well, it said that this might reduce the disease to the point it could be more effectively addressed with other therapies.

My question is if you have blood cancer is it only in your blood? Seems to me that there would be cells that wouldn’t necessarily go through the filter.

[bgill]

We had some in the toilet tanks. Didn’t work at all.

[Balding_Eagle]

Maybe those magnets I put on my fuel line of the car are actually increasing my gas mileage!

[Constitution Day]

Jesse Pinkman approves.

[chuckles]

Chelation is limited to certain materials. Lead is the main one. Chelation doctors say that it will bind to calcium also. I had 30 treatments and it helped me and others I witnessed their treatments. The doctor also said EDTA reduced inflammation of all types, so it actually worked on more than just lead, metals, and calcium. I witnessed people being restored with Sclerosis of the liver, Pancreatitis, Lyme disease, and others as it relieves inflammation. Chelation works on aluminum and arsenic and a bunch of other metals. They will take measurements of about 20-25 metals in your blood and urine and then take it again at the end of your treatment.

[Jemian]

Not my blood.

[minnesota_bound]

You would thing a MRI or CT scan would cure everyone.