After the 2016 Theranos blood testing scandal, the glitz and glamour of new lab technologies have lost its hue for many Americans. The public continues to be, understandably, a little weary of how their blood is being used and managed. (1) However, a British engineer may turn some of these perspectives right side back up, with his unique and genuine scientific breakthrough.
A Magnetizing Idea
Dr. George Frodsham, working at University College in London, was testing magnetic nanoparticles for medical imaging when he came up with an idea to repurpose them. Developing a special sieve, Dr. Frodsham conceptualized a medical product that would trap blood-borne disease with magnetic particles, and then return ‘clean’, healthy blood back to the patient. Working like dialysis, which is a process that cleans the blood of patients with little to no kidney function, he wanted to make a filtration system of micro-magnets. These tiny magnets, if all worked well, would attract and enmesh specific diseased blood particles. With the correct magnet particles, an optimistic Dr. Fordsham saw the possibility of treating cancer, infectious diseases, and life-threatening illness with his technology. (2)
Human Trials On The Horizon
As of November 2019, Dr. Frodsham has successfully developed a medical device that can remove malaria and some sepsis-causing bacteria from the blood. He has termed his new invention the MediSieve, a name that encapsulates his original brainwave for the product. Dr. Fordsham said to The Telegraph, “In theory, you can go after almost anything. Poisons, pathogens, viruses, bacteria, anything that we can specifically bind to we can remove. So it’s a very powerful potential tool… Now is we know it’s possible, it’s just a question of figuring out some of the details.”
However, before you see this device in your local emergency department, the MediSieve still requires some additional testing in advance of widespread use. In 2020, pending Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approval, the device will begin human trials. Such trials are instrumental in testing the efficacy and safety of the MediSieve, as compared to alternative and traditional treatments. (2)
What Will MediSieve Treatments Look Like?
Future treatments from the MediSieve will likely look different, based on the acuity and type of illness you are experiencing. For example, malaria is managed with a different nanoparticle magnet than bacteria. But ideally, anyone requiring access to the MediSieve will be provided care over a two to four hour period. In this time, levels of disease in the blood will be so dramatically lowered using the MediSieve that the remaining particles will be easily destroyed by the body’s natural immune system. If the patient has a weakened immune system, additional drug therapies may be required in conjunction with the MediSieve’s magnetic filtration.
The thought of curing someone’s disease in one or two sessions with the MediSieve is incredible for healthcare professionals, patients, and their families. Hopefully, Dr. Fodsham’s work will also inspire the net generation of biomedical engineers to find more high-tech solutions to big medical problems that have not yet been rectified with drugs or surgery. As per Dr. Forsham, “A doctor will never treat a million people but an engineer could.”
