You wouldn't think that gold would be able to treat fatal diseases but in a sense, it now can. Scientists have developed a technique using gold nanoprobes to identify different types of cells, which allow them to use the right ones in stem cell therapies.

Stem cell therapy holds enormous potential, despite still being in its infancy. It could change the way we treat cancer and other life-threatening diseases by replacing damaged or diseased cells with healthy ones. Yet one of the limitations of this therapy is identifying the right cells to use during different therapies. That's why scientists decided to focus on developing a way to recognize what cells should be used in different treatments.

"Stem cells could hold the key to tackling many diseases. They develop into all the various kinds of cells needed in the body--blood, nerves and organs--but it is almost impossible to tell them apart during their initial development without complex techniques, even with the most advanced microscopes," said Sumeet Mahajan, one of the researchers, in a news release. "Up to now, scientists have used intrusive fluorescent markers to tag molecules and track each cell, a process which can render them useless for therapeutic purposes anyway."

So what did the scientists do? They employed a technique known as Surface Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy (SERS), which was first discovered in the 1970s. When it was first found, researchers realized that by roughening a metal surface upon which they had placed various molecules to be examined, they could increase the signal by which they could detect these molecules by a million times. This allowed them to detect molecules in far smaller quantities than ever before. While SERS has been used in other capacities, though, this is the first time it's been used in the field of cell therapeutics.

"Scientists studying neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease believe replenishing a patient's depleted dopamine-generating cells may be an effective treatment," said Mahajan. "However, in order to avoid fatal complications, we must be sure we are using the right type of replacement cells, which the work we are doing at Southamptom is enabling us to do. In addition, the technique can also allow us to see if drugs are working effectively in cells, and can also be used to diagnose diseases as we treat them."

The findings are crucial when it comes to stem cell therapy. The new method is a vital component which could, in the future, allow researchers to treat fatal diseases.

The research is published in the journal Nano Letters.

Want to learn more about SERS? Check out the video below, courtesy of YouTube.