1. Google X is developing a digestible pill that
contains nanotechnology which would work
alongside a wearable device to spot early signs of
cancer and other diseases.
XSources:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/google-cancer-heart-attack-detecting-pill
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/11193990/Google-developing-pill-that-can-detect-cancer.html

2. What is Google X?
• Google X is the company’s research lab.
• Already in charge of:
– Self driving cars
– High-altitude balloons to deliver internet
– Google Glass
• Google is already in our homes, in our cars
and on our wrists.
• Soon Google could in our bodies too.
–
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/google-cancer-heart-attack-detecting-pill
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/11193990/Google-developing-pill-that-can-detect-cancer.html

3. Google Pill – Catch Cancer Early
• Google X are in the process of devolving a digestible pill that
contains nanotechnology.
• It will work alongside a wearable device which will help spot early
signs of cancer and other diseases.
• The Pill can identify cancer tumour cells and send the information
back to the wearable.
• The work is in very early stages, Google is yet to discover how many
nanoparticles are required.
• The scheme is being made public to seek out partners to take the
technology forward.
• It would not be Google operating the technology, and that the
search giant would not be the one with access to the data
collected by the nanoparticles. Instead it would be the patients
doctors, hospitals and medical equipment companies that take
the technology on.
•
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/google-cancer-heart-attack-detecting-pill
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/11193990/Google-developing-pill-that-can-detect-cancer.html

4. How Would The Pill work
• The pill will be filled with tiny iron-oxide nanoparticles that enter
the blood stream.
• Nano particles are really small more then 2000 nanoparticles could
fit inside a red blood cell. (One nanoparticle is approximately
10,000 times smaller than the width of a human hair.)
• Nanoparticles circulate in the blood and can be built to attach to
particular types of cells, such as circulating cancer cells.
• Due to the pills containing iron it makes the nanoparticles
magnetic.
• When the wearable device is worn, it creates a magnetic field that
draws the particles to the wrist and can provide useful
information to physicians.
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/google-cancer-heart-attack-detecting-pill
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/11193990/Google-developing-pill-that-can-detect-cancer.html

5. Investments/Backing
• Google is in the early stages, at least five years away (as previously
stated) from a product approved for use by doctors.
• Scientists believe nanotechnology could greatly enhance medicine.
• The US government has invested more then $20 billion in
nanotechnology research of the last decade.
• It is highly likely that a medical company would partner with Google
to take the technology to the next step.
• They have made it public open to anyone who wants to get involved
with already a team of around 100 scientists at the Google X lab.
• Within those 100 is Dr Andrew Conrad – Head of the Life Sciences
team at Google X states, who was chief scientific officer of a
diagnostics lab firm, LabCrop, which previously developed a cheap
test for HIV.
• They plan not to make money but yet put the world of medicine on
its head.
•
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/google-cancer-hea
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/11193990/Google-develop

6. Do we want Google knowing more
about our personal life?
• The idea of Google monitoring human cells will likely concern critics
worried by the company’s reach into people’s private lives.
• Google will not collect or store any of the medical data itself, but will
license the technology to others who will handle the information and
its security.
• It would not be Google operating the technology, and the search giant
would not be the one with access to the data collected by the
nanoparticles. Instead it would be the patients doctors, hospitals and
medical equipment companies that take the technology on.
• Their mission is to help move health care from reactive to proactive. For
far too long, it’s largely been sickness care, because we go to the
doctor only once we have symptoms. We keep most complex systems
(e.g. cars and airplanes) in shape with proactive, preventive care, so
why should our bodies be any different?
• Dr Andrew Conrad states, “We are the inventors of the technology but
we have no intentions of commercialising it or monetising it in that
way.”
Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/google-cancer-heart-attack-detecting-pill
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/11193990/Google-developing-pill-that-can-detect-cancer.html

7. Pre-emptive rather than reactive
• It is part of the move away from reactive medicine, which
treats diseases once they have become serious enough to
cause symptoms for patients prompting them to go and
see a doctor and towards pre-emptive medicine, which
catches signs of disease much earlier, before it becomes a
problem.
• Google currently hasn’t discovered how many nanoparticles
would be required to make the system effective and has to
develop coatings for the particles that help them bind to
cells to detect issues.
• The system known as the “nanoparticle platform” is Google’s
latest venture into the lucrative health market, which is
worth around 10% of the economy of developed nations.
More than £100bn a year is spent on the National Health
Service in Britain.
• Sources:
http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2014/oct/29/google-cancer-heart-attack-detecting-pill
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/google/11193990/Google-developing-pill-that-can-detect-cancer.html

8. Conclusion
This could be a huge step in medicine and help save many lives.
Medical applications of new diagnostic technologies like this are highly
regulated, and Google could face tough challenges in proving the
safety and efficacy of the nanoparticle platform. Nanotechnology is a
new field in medical science, which has promised to help combat
disease including cancer. But nanoparticles potentially pose a risk to
the health of individuals and the environment if not carefully
controlled, which could build up and cause unintended consequences
in unexpected places both inside the body and in the wider
environment. All in all, I feel Google are trying to give a solution in
catching cancer before its too late instead of spending money and
time in curing the whole dieses. This will give (hopefully temporary)
insight on those who may have very early signs of cancer and can be
stopped before its too late. If anything, it’s a compromise for the time
being until the cure is found. I think it is scarily amazing.