Nanotechnology

As promised, I have some cancer and lymphoma news to share over the next few posts.

The first piece comes from ComputerWorld. com, a seemingly strange place to find cancer news. The article is called "Nanotech Blasts Cancer Cells with Tumor-Killing Genes." Very cool stuff. Nanotechnology, in general, deals with technology on a sub-atomic level, using tiny particles to affect tiny molecules. For example, nanotech researchers have found ways to deliver very small doses of chemotherapy directly to cancer cells, while leaving healthy cells alone. The article discusses more of the nanotechnology advances against cancer that have been made in the last year or so: once cancer cells can be identified, therapies can be delivered directly to them, sometimes delivering proteins that force the cell to kill itself.

In some ways, this is all part of that "personalization" process that cancer researchers are working on. By targeting specific cells, treatments become more efficient, creating less need for broad-based chemotherapy and minimizing the damage to healthy cells.

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I can't end the post without giving a Woo-Hoo to my Cardinals. As a proud alumnus of the University of Louisville, I was thrilled with their #1 seeding, and very pleased with their hard-fought victories this weekend.

I think we need to give some credit to entire Big East Conference. This season, they were great teams that made each other stronger, and now a record five Big East teams are in the Sweet Sixteen. Unfortunately, Marquette, which would have made it six teams, lost a heartbreaker to Missouri.

Very sad loss for Marquette. I tell ya -- I'd hate to be an alum of that school. And that's all I'll say about it, because saying any more would cause unnecessary pain for any alumni who might be reading. It's just very sad. That's all I'm saying.