Researchers have developed these tiny particles that seek out blood clots and dissolves them. As we all know blood clots cause all kinds of bad times including strokes and that's no good for anyone.
Looking for a better approach, biomedical engineer Donald Ingber of Harvard University and colleagues turned to nanoparticles. Modeled after platelets—cells that circulate in the blood and help stop bleeding by forming clots—the nanoparticles are less than 100 nm wide and made of synthetic polymers stuck together like a ball of wet sand. Like platelets, clumps of the particles flow freely in the blood and gravitate toward blocked vessels by sensing a change in blood flow. Once there, they break apart into individual particles that stick to the clot, releasing a drug called tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) that dissolves it.
Source via news.sciencemag.org
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