By: John Rawls

 There are over 100 types of Cancer  Over 7 million deaths a year (2004)  Makes up over 13% of the world’s deaths each year  The disease can affect all parts of the body

 The top five in Men:  Lung  Stomach  Liver  Colorectal  Oesophagus  The top five in Women:  Breast  Lung  Stomach  Colorectal  Cervical

 Tests are called screenings  Different types:  Physical Exam  Laboratory Tests  Imagining Procedures  Genetic Tests  Finding Cancer early can save lives

 Circulating tumor cells  About 90% of cancer related deaths are not due to the original site of the cancer  Important to find these traveling cancerous cells  Usually only several cells per 1-milliliter sample of blood, which can contain tens of billions of normal blood cells

 Blood is taken from the patient  Passed over thousands of silicon “posts”  Antibodies coat the outside of silicon  Not too efficient given the amount of cells  Scientists look for more efficient strategy

 PGfM PGfM  Understanding of Carbon Nanotubes

 About 8 times more efficient  10 billion to 100 billion carbon nanotubes per square centimeter  Less than 1% carbon and 99% air  Easy to flow through

 Can change the Geometry  Tumor cells, about a micron in diameter, down to viruses, which are only 40 nm  Possibly able to test for HIV  Leads are forming for handheld devices  Lead to more availability  Better diagnostics  Location?

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