{"id":782492,"date":"2026-07-06T11:04:11","date_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/782492\/"},"modified":"2026-07-06T11:04:11","modified_gmt":"2026-07-06T11:04:11","slug":"scientists-destroy-99-of-cancer-cells-in-lab-using-vibrating-molecules-sciencealert","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/782492\/","title":{"rendered":"Scientists Destroy 99% of Cancer Cells in Lab Using Vibrating Molecules : ScienceAlert"},"content":{"rendered":"

Scientists may have found a way to destroy cancer<\/a> cells without initially relying on chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation.<\/p>\n

The approach is called ‘molecular jackhammer’, and it relies on little more than light and a well-established medical molecule.<\/p>\n

The technique involves using aminocyanine molecules<\/a> \u2013 synthetic dyes already widely used in medical imaging \u2013 and stimulating them with near-infrared light.<\/p>\n

This causes them to vibrate in sync at around 40 trillion oscillations per second, fast enough to physically tear apart the membrane of a cancer cell.<\/p>\n

The procedure can kill cancer cells within minutes, even at low doses.<\/p>\n

Results of the first experiments using the molecular jackhammer technique were published at the end of 2023 in Nature Chemistry<\/a> by a team from Rice University, Texas A&M, and the University of Texas.<\/p>\n

The experiments demonstrated a 99 percent success rate at destroying cancer cells in lab cultures.<\/p>\n

In mouse models of melanoma, half the animals became cancer-free.<\/p>\n

\"CellHow the vibration mechanism works. The ‘molecular jackhammer’ is a molecule embedded in the cell membrane that vibrates when hit with near-infrared light. (Ciceron Ayala-Orozco et al., Nature Chemistry, 2023<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Since then, one of the researchers, Rice University chemist James Tour, has expanded the approach with colleagues.<\/p>\n

In late 2024, the researchers published a follow-up in Advanced Science<\/a>, describing the many different variations of molecular jackhammers in development \u2013 opening the door to targeting different cancer types with greater precision.<\/p>\n

The hope here isn’t just the success rate \u2013 let’s keep in mind that the results so far have all been in lab and animal models, and translating that same effectiveness into humans isn’t always so straightforward.<\/p>\n

But scientists think that because this is a mechanical technique, it’s not something the cancer cells are likely to develop resistance to.<\/p>\n

“This study is about a different way to treat cancer using mechanical forces at the molecular scale,” said<\/a> chemist Ciceron Ayala-Orozco from Rice University when the Nature Chemistry<\/a> paper came out.<\/p>\n

The approach is an improvement on another type of cancer-killing molecular machine previously developed<\/a>, called Feringa-type motors, which could also break the structures of problematic cells.<\/p>\n

“It is a whole new generation of molecular machines,” said<\/a> Tour in December 2023.<\/p>\n

“They are more than one million times faster in their mechanical motion than the former Feringa-type motors, and they can be activated with near-infrared light rather than visible light.”<\/p>\n

\"AThe structure of an aminocyanine molecule (a molecular jackhammer) overlaid on top of the calculated molecular plasmon. (Ciceron Ayala-Orozco\/Rice University<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Aminocyanine molecules are already used in bioimaging as synthetic dyes. Commonly used in low doses to detect cancer, they stay stable in water and are very good at attaching themselves to the outside of cells.<\/p>\n

The use of near-infrared light is important because it enables scientists to get deeper into the body. Cancer in bones and organs could potentially be treated without needing surgery to get to the cancer growth<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The structure and chemical properties of aminocyanine molecules mean they stay in sync with the right stimulus \u2013 such as near-infrared light. When in motion, the electrons inside the molecules form what’s known as plasmons<\/a>, collectively vibrating entities that drive movement across the whole of the molecule.<\/p>\n

“What needs to be highlighted is that we’ve discovered another explanation for how these molecules can work,” said<\/a> Ayala-Orozco.<\/p>\n

\"Subscribe<\/a><\/p>\n

“This is the first time a molecular plasmon is utilized in this way to excite the whole molecule and to actually produce mechanical action used to achieve a particular goal \u2013 in this case, tearing apart cancer cells’ membranes.”<\/p>\n

The plasmons have an arm on one side, helping to connect the molecules to the cancer cell<\/a> membranes while the movements of the vibrations rip them apart. It’s still early days for the research, but these initial findings are very promising.<\/p>\n

Related: Scientists Just Unlocked an Endless Army of Cancer-Fighting Cells<\/a><\/p>\n

In their latest work, the researchers addressed concerns about the potential toxicity of these molecules, finding that low doses of unactivated molecular jackhammers are quickly internalized and cleared by normal cells.<\/p>\n

“The relatively rapid clearance of molecular jackhammers from cells observed in this study suggests a potential pathway for their elimination from the body,” the team writes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“This clearance mechanism provides important insights into the potential safety profile of molecular jackhammers for therapeutic applications.”<\/p>\n

The results of the first proof of concept were published in Nature Chemistry<\/a>, and the latest study on varieties of molecular jackhammers was published in Advanced Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n

This article was fact-checked by Clare Watson<\/a> and edited by Peter Dockrill<\/a>. While we pride ourselves on our process, we are only human. If you spot a mistake, please let us know<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Scientists may have found a way to destroy cancer cells without initially relying on chemotherapy, surgery, or radiation.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":782493,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,2967,128],"class_list":["post-782492","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-msft-content","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782492","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=782492"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/782492\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/782493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=782492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=782492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=782492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}