Video: Nanobees Target Tumors with Synthesized Venom

Ultra-Tiny 'Bees' Target Tumors
CNN, 8/18/2009

They’re ready to sting, and they know where they’re going.

They’re called “nanobees,“ and they’re not insects—they’re tiny particles designed to destroy cancer cells by delivering a synthesized version of a toxin called melittin that is found in bees.

“Melittin, which would otherwise result in substantial destruction of your red blood cells and other normal tissues if it were delivered intravenously alone, is completely safe when it’s on a nanoparticle,“ said Dr. Samuel Wickline, director of the Siteman Center of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri.

Nanobees are one of the latest examples of how nanotechnology may change the way diseases are treated…