By: Jayden Dudek

In the near future, common roundworms can fight cancer cells to help humans, within the human body.

A Korean team used the cancer-seeking worm “Caenorhabditis elegans” (C. elegans) to develop the worm-on-a-chip system at Myongji University in Seoul, South Korea. Their chip system has 3 indents. The cancer cells are placed on one side, the healthy cells on the other, and the worms in the center. The scientists put around 50 worms which are 1mm in the chip. They found out worms are attracted to the cancer cells. This result shows the worms can detect cancer.

Shin Sik Choi is a biotechnologist on that team. He says, “About 70 percent of the worms move toward cancer.” His team presented its new worm-on-a-chip on March 20 at the spring meeting of the American Chemical Society.

Many scientists agree that the worm-on-a-chip system has good potential. According to the Science News for Students by Katie Grace Carpenter on May 9, 2022, “Last year, Folli’s research team reported that C. elegans preferred urine from patients with breast cancer over healthy people’s pee.”

Link to Article:

https://www.sciencenewsforstudents.org/article/innovation-2022-worms-sniff-out-human-cancers