Magnetic Guidance [Microwave Surfing]

Examines whether magnetic bacteria will provide a potential role in medicine. Normally, one thinks of bacteria as a source of medical problems, e.g., infections, rather than a part of the solution. But, as a team of researchers from Montreal, Canada, has recently demonstrated, swarms of specialized magnetic bacteria, the Magnetococcus marinus strain MC-1, may someday be harnessed in the battle against cancer. The MC-1 bacteria, found in saltwater estuaries in the northern hemisphere, use their internal “compass needles” and the Earth’s geomagnetic field to point themselves toward deeper hypoxic (low-oxygen-concentration) water, their preferred habitat. It is this affinity for hypoxic environments that makes these bacteria particularly useful in targeting tumors.