UPDATED 06:00 EDT / OCTOBER 29 2014

Google's Director Of Microbiology Dr Andrew Conrad NEWS

Google wants to inject Robots into your blood

Google's Dr Andrew  Conrad - Lead Micro Biologist for the Project

Google’s Dr Andrew Conrad – Lead Micro Biologist for the Project

Google Inc., has made no secret of its obsession with search, but it’s about to take things to the extreme with the development of nanoparticles that can be injected into people to seek out diseases like cancer.

The idea was announced at the Wall Street Journal’s WSJ.D Live conference Tuesday. Google’s nanoparticles will be able to detect signs of cancer and other diseases before patients show any symptoms, providing them with an early warning and giving them time to initiate a proactive treatment. Quite literally, people could inject themselves with nanoparticles and wouldn’t even need to wait until they feel sick before seeing a doctor.

The nanoparticles have been developed by Google’s Life Sciences group (which is a part of the Google X research Labs). Dr. Andrew Conrad, the molecular biologist leading the project, says the nanoparticles are about 1/1000th of the size of a typical red blood cell, and can attach themselves to specific cells, proteins or other molecules in the body.

“What we are trying to do is change medicine from reactive and transactional to proactive and preventative,” said Dr. Conrad. “Nanoparticles… give you the ability to explore the body at a molecular and cellular level.”

There’s a wearable aspect to this too – Google will build a small device that scoops up all of the data from the nanoparticles, before analyzing it and alerting the patient if anything is amiss. Google admits it still needs to do more research however – specifically it needs to know when the level of disease-carrying molecules present in the body is a cause for concern.

“Every test you ever go to the doctor for will be done through this system,” continued Conrad. “That’s our dream.”

But though the idea of having a microscopic bodyguard floating around inside you sounds intriguing, Google’s reputation as the world’s biggest data-grabber is also a concern. Google could presumably make a fortune selling medical insights on people to insurance companies, employers and the like. But Dr. Conrad insists Google doesn’t plan to use the nanoparticles to collect medical data on people, but rather, would license them to other companies. In other words, Google won’t touch your data.

“We’re going to be inventors that work on the technology – disruptive, innovative technology – and then we’re going to look for partners who will bring it forward,” he said.

It’ll be some time before Google’s medical nanoparticles ever ‘see the light of day’, as it were, but that doesn’t mean we should dismiss the idea as science-fiction. Google has over 100 employees working on the project, including experts in astrophysics, chemistry and electrical engineering.

photo credit: GMF-Productions via photopin cc

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