Researchers at Northeastern University in Boston believe nanotechnology could be used to kill the Ebola virus.
Thomas Webster, the chair of the university's chemical engineering department, said the virus' ability to mutate at fast rates has made it difficult to create a vaccine or treatment for it, according to Discovery News.
"In nanotechnology, we turned our attention to developing nanoparticles that could be attached chemically to the viruses and stop them from spreading."
Ebola is currently responsible for the deaths of more than 1,000 people. Scientists have been exploring different ways to treat the virus, with the most recent failure the experimental treatment ZMapp, which was unable to save the life of a Spanish missionary priest.
The research team is looking to kill the virus with gold nanoparticles and near-infrared light, which have been used in the past to kill cancer cells with heat, Discovery News reported. The team is currently working on ways to make these cells attract gold nanoparticles.
The process would be designed to make sure the particles aren't attracted to healthy cells. The particles, which Webster calls gold nanostars, are shaped into stars to increase the particles' surface area, thus increasing the heating effect.
"The star has a lot more surface area, so it can heat up much faster than a sphere can," Webster said. "And that greater surface area allows it to attack more viruses once they adsorb to the particles."
Webster added that while his team has found potential in the nanostars and is hopeful in their abilities, he doesn't want to give people false hope since nanotechnology is still in its early stages in its use for fighting Ebola, Discovery News reported.
"There is obviously such a huge need right now for ways to treat Ebola and other viruses, and it's up to us to study and look at new and creative ways that traditional medicine really can't," he said.
