Towards non-invasive cancer diagnostics and treatment based on electromagnetic fields, optomechanics and microtubules

Abstract

In this paper, we discuss biological effects of electromagnetic (EM) fields in the context of cancer biology. In particular, we review the nanomechanical properties of microtubules (MTs), the latter being one of the most successful targets for cancer therapy. We propose an investigation on the coupling of electromagnetic radiation to mechanical vibrations of MTs as an important basis for biological and medical applications. In our opinion optomechanical methods can accurately monitor and control the mechanical properties of isolated MTs in a liquid environment. Consequently, studying nanomechanical properties of MTs may give useful information for future applications to diagnostic and therapeutic technologies involving non-invasive externally applied physical fields. For example, electromagnetic fields or high intensity ultrasound can be used therapeutically avoiding harmful side effects of chemotherapeutic agents or classical radiation therapy.

References in corpus (10)

• Sideband Cooling Micromechanical Motion to the Quantum Ground State
• Ground-state cooling of a micromechanical oscillator: generalized framework for cold damping and cavity-assisted cooling schemes
• Microwave Quantum Illumination
• Quantum Illumination at the Microwave Wavelengths
• Coherent Signal Amplification in Bistable Nanomechanical Oscillators by Stochastic Resonance
• Nanomechanical squeezing with detection via a microwave cavity
• High-contrast dispersive readout of a superconducting flux qubit using a nonlinear resonator
• Classical to Quantum Transition of a Driven Nonlinear Nanomechanical Resonator
• The stochastic dynamics of micron and nanoscale elastic cantilevers in fluid: fluctuations from dissipation
• Quantum limit of photothermal cooling