According to an article at UIC Today, scientists at the University of Illinois at Chicago have conducted experiments suggesting graphene might be useful in diagnosing amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or multiple sclerosis (MS) in medical patients.
What is graphene?
Graphene is a very simple yet very complex form of carbon – specifically, a sheet of carbon atoms only one layer thick. It had been theorized for decades, but scientists were unable to synthesize a layer of the substance that was only one atom thick until 2004.
That’s when Andre Geim and Kostya Novoselov, two scientists at the University of Manchester, finally cracked the decades-old riddle of isolating such a thin sheet. They used tape.
Graphite, yes the same graphite in your pencil, is basically a thick block of graphene. Geim and Novoselov determined a true single layer of graphene could be created simply by applying a stretch of scotch tape to a block of graphite. They continued to apply and remove pieces of opposing tape to one another until they finally had a layer only one atom thick. In 2010 they received the Nobel Prize for their groundbreaking research.
Graphene has a number of unusual properties that has excited scientists across a number of fields. So far its most promising uses are in electrical and mechanical industries, though it has also made headway into the medical field.
Potential Applications for Neurodegenerative Disease
In research published in November of 2017, graphene may be useful for helping doctors diagnose people presenting neurodegenerative symptoms. When a patient’s cerebrospinal fluid is introduced to a layer of graphene, it changes some of the graphene’s observable characteristics.
Specifically, scientists observed the phonons in the graphene – an area of a substance where molecules are briefly condensed, not unlike a wave or vibration. When the cerebrospinal fluid of an individual was introduced to the graphene, the vibrations in the substance would change in quantifiable way. Amazingly, the research showed that the cerebrospinal fluid of ALS patients changed the graphene’s phonons differently than that of fluid taken from someone with MS. Fluid from people without ALS or MS also had a unique affect on the graphene.
By observing the energy of these waves, researchers claim they were able to deduce the differences between the extracted spinal fluid.
The research raises hopes that one day graphene might be used by medical professionals to help their patients. However, for the time being, the research remains just that – an interesting lab quirk that must be studied further before gaining widespread medical acceptance.
Graphene has shown incredible potential for all kinds of uses. What do you think of this intriguing technology? Share your thoughts with Patient Worthy!
