In collaboration with researchers from Assam’s Tezpur University, Russian scientists have developed a substance-based cobra venom and quantum dots that can glow and help surgeons see the ‘boundaries of cancerous tumour.’ Surgeons need to see the boundaries because the more precisely the boundary is marked, the more effective the operation would be.
Unique hybrid compound
The researchers synthesised the substance from snake venom alpha-neurotoxins and semiconductor fluorescent nanoparticles, Sputnik news agency reported. Researchers from Russia’s National University of Science and Technology MISIS created a unique hybrid compound (conjugate) consisting of two molecules with different characteristics — alpha-neurotoxins derived from Thai cobra venom and semiconductor fluorescent quantum nanoparticles of cadmium selenide, the so—called quantum dots.