NANOTECHNOLOGY—TECHNOLOGY ON A MOLECULAR SCALE - Chemistry: Notable Research and Discoveries - page 61

This color-coded image shows a gold nanoparticle (dark red)
heated with an infrared laser beam. The surroundings get hot
as well, but the temperature fades quickly to 81°F (27°C),
represented by the color purple. (The color scale is given in
Celsius.) (Yeonee Seol/JILA)
nanoparticle. Nanoparticles of gold can be connected to the same mol-
ecules that bind to the cancer markers. When attached to the cancerous
cells, gold nanoparticles can provide the means by which physicians se-
lectively destroy the right cells. Mostafa A. El-Sayed, another researcher
at Georgia Institute of Technology, found that aiming a laser beam at
tissues causes the death of cells with attached gold nanoparticles. The
intensity of the laser is low enough that cells without the nanoparticles
are unharmed.
Other scientists have also been experimenting with this effect.
Jennifer L. West and her colleagues at Rice University designed small
shells, “nanoshells,” of gold. The nanoshells have a core made of a