NAUTILOS is a leading-edge R&D project. Its mission is to develop a miniature submarine that is injected into the human organism, where it remains on constant patrol. When it comes upon pathogens or cancer cells, it can target, engage and eliminate them. The project is only in its initial stage. It is estimated that NAUTILOS will be ready for deployment in 15-20 years. Researchers are currently working on shrinking a complete biomedical lab down to one square millimeter. This “lab on a chip” will constitute NAUTILOS’ core—analyzing the blood flowing past and, when ordered, launching an attack on harmful organisms. To save time and space, the mini-lab employs optofluidics that analyze the blood with purely optical means—that is, with light. The blood is illuminated to measure how its individual components react to light. Constantly comparing the test results to standard values makes it possible to immediately recognize dangerous changes in the blood’s makeup or the presence of viruses.

credit: Christian Karnutsch (DE), www.ionas.eu