{"id":4,"date":"2017-08-23T21:11:43","date_gmt":"2017-08-23T21:11:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/?p=4"},"modified":"2017-09-05T15:06:55","modified_gmt":"2017-09-05T22:06:55","slug":"science-fiction-medical-reality","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/science-fiction-medical-reality\/","title":{"rendered":"From Science Fiction to Medical Reality"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imagine doctors sending billions of microscale<\/strong>\u00a0robots into the human body to survey and map the entire vascular system, identifying any lesions or cancers along the way. Using this information, other nanorobots target and repair specific cells, one by one, while causing no side effects or harm to neighboring cells. These nanorobots enter the body via an injection or swallowed pill, complete their mission, and exit.<\/p>\n

\"Hands<\/a>
Robert Freitas \u201974 holds a 3-D-printed model of a simple mechanical component called a \u201chydrocarbon bearing\u201d with an inner ring that moves smoothly inside the outer sleeve. At 8 cm in diameter, the scale is roughly 20,000,000:1. He says the real hydrocarbon bearing would be about four nanometers in diameter, consisting of 1,120 precisely placed carbon (gray) and hydrogen (white) atoms. Freitas is determining how to manufacture this and other molecular machines.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cConceptually, nanorobots are the ultimate \u2018big hammer\u2019 in the 21st century medical toolkit, and medicine may be the single most important application of nanotechnology,\u201d says Robert Freitas \u201974, a senior research fellow at the Institute for Molecular Manufacturing and Harvey Mudd physics graduate. \u201cNanomedicine not only could vastly improve human comfort, safety and pleasure, but also dramatically extend the human lifespan and greatly expand the possibilities of the human form.\u201d<\/p>\n

Though this may seem like science fiction, it is what Freitas has been seeking for years to make a reality. He first set out a vision for nanorobots and their conceptual design in the 1999 book Nanomedicine and explains, \u201cMature nanomedicine requires the ability to build medical nanorobots, using nanofactories. That\u2019s why I\u2019ve spent the last decade pursuing molecular manufacturing technologies.\u201d<\/p>\n

His efforts have led to 10 U.S. patents in the fields of molecular manufacturing and medical nanorobotics\u2014 including the first for diamond mechanosynthesis, a method for building a tool to fabricate atomically precise physical structures\u2014and the 2009 Feynman Prize in nanotechnology for excellence in theory. Currently writing two new volumes in the Nanomedicine book series, Freitas has also published works about using molecular manufacturing and nanorobotics to address climate change, food production, and Alzheimer\u2019s disease, the last of which he describes as the \u201cMount Everest of medical challenges that will require mature nanotechnology to surmount.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m certainly not smarter than everyone else, but I have an almost instinctual eagerness to seriously consider the impossible,\u201d says Freitas. \u201cThe other personal characteristic that I think matters is raw persistence. In my experience, if you want something badly enough and are willing to persist for years or even decades, you can probably attain it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Those and related qualities, including considerable curiosity, were already in evidence by the time Freitas arrived at HMC. Coming to the College had been his goal since seventh grade, when the headmaster of his Phoenix school told the self-described \u201cclass nerd\u201d that it would be perfect for him. Freitas ultimately reached the same conclusion, noting, \u201cThe three most important things I learned at HMC were how to lead, how to learn and the value of an excellent professor. My favorite was physics professor Thomas Helliwell, who took the time to indulge and encourage my intellectual fascination with the details of many \u2018impossible\u2019 things in physics.\u201d<\/p>\n

His professor also indulged his desire to write a science fiction novel in place of the traditional senior research in physics. Freitas then continued on an unconventional path, first earning a law degree and then searching for extraterrestrial intelligence at several astronomical observatories, studying self-replicating lunar factories at NASA, and publishing a financial newsletter featuring an econometric value-forecasting model before settling on nanotechnology.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt first glance, my path appears to be a mix of overlapping unrelated activities, but in hindsight, each of the activities provided valuable experience essential to my current success,\u201d explains Freitas. \u201cWhat unites them is an abiding interest in the future, my curiosity about the unknown, my eagerness to consider some of the deepest questions confronting humankind, and my willingness to actively indulge these interests in the limited time available in a lifespan. It helps that I hold the view that this \u2018limited time\u2019 will become significantly less limited if I\u2019m successful in my projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, Freitas has what he considers a laser-like focus on nanomedicine. Unlike many researchers, he is looking for big leaps in science and technology, not incremental advances. And he believes his vision of manufacturing nanorobots equipped with the sensors, manipulators, onboard computers and mechanisms for communication and navigation that would enable new medical therapies is more feasible and closer to reality than ever before.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy collaborators and I want to get to that place as fast as possible,\u201d says Freitas. \u201cMolecular manufacturing has far-reaching consequences for the future of society: Nanomedicine could allow humans to survive long enough to participate directly in the distant future. What could be more exciting than that?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imagine doctors sending billions of microscale\u00a0robots into the human body to survey and map the entire vascular system, identifying any […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":78,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/78"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/magazine.hmc.edu\/summer-2017\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}