LAGUNA BEACH, California — Not content with organizing all the world's information, Google is taking its first steps inside the human body.

The company is researching nanoparticles that bind themselves to cancerous cells and other forms of disease, Google revealed on Tuesday at the WSJD Live conference here, adding that the research is part of the Google X program that investigates long-term, pie-in-the-sky technologies.

It isn't expected to be commercialized for many years. But Andrew Conrad, head of Google's Life Sciences division, revealed that experiments had already begun around designing and testing tiny intravenous machines taken in pill form.

The particles in question are so small, in fact, that 2,000 could fit inside a single blood cell.

"Nanoparticles are the nexus between biology and engineering," Conrad said. "Because the core of these particles is magnetic, you'll be able to call them somewhere... just by putting a magnet on your wrist, you'll be able to trap them and ask them what they saw."

The tiny machines will be able to travel the body and scan for cancerous cells, like for the kind of plaque in arteries that leads to heart attacks or for too much sodium, Conrad said. He compared the nanoparticle approach to mingling with the residents of a new city, rather than taking a "helicopter tour."

Google's head of Life Sciences, Andrew Conrad. Image: Google

The most at-risk patients will be the first beneficiaries of the technology, according to Google — hopefully within a decade. A company spokesperson pointed out that pancreatic cancer is one of the most difficult kinds of the disease to detect, and can strike unknown even to those who visit the hospital for yearly CT scans. Only 3% of pancreatic cancers are detected in the crucial early stages.

Conrad, formerly the cofounder of the National Genetics Institute, repeatedly cautioned that many years of trials lay ahead before a viable technology. But he also wasn't shy about Google's long-term goal in the health space.

"Ultimately, death is our foe," Conrad said, before chuckling at his own grandiose phrasing. "That should be on a T-shirt."