A team of investigators at the University of California, Berkeley, have developed a glycopolymer coating that attaches to carbon nanotubes to form a stable cell-like surface.

This new coating could spur the development of new anticancer agents that rely on the unique physical characteristics of carbon nanotubes, according to physorg.com.

To test whether these coated nanotubes might be toxic to cells, Carolyn Bertozzi, Ph.D., and her colleagues mixed the coated nanotubes with two different types of cells. The researchers found that the coated nanotubes had no effect on the growth of these cells. In contrast, uncoated nanotubes inhibited significantly the growth of both types of cells.

The researchers used a protein produced by a type of snail to act as a crosslinker between the coated nanotubes and cells possessing the exact same glycopolymer on their outer membranes. By using different glycoprotein-crosslinking protein pairs it should be possible to target distinct types of cells based on their membrane glycoprotein fingerprint.