Also this month, scientists at MIT said they had developed nanotechnology that can be placed inside living cells to determine whether chemotherapy drugs or attacking healthy cells. The sensors, which can detect chemotherapy drugs as well as toxins and free radicals, are carbon nanotubes that the scientists have wrapped in DNA so they can be safely injected into living tissue, according to a release from the university.

Another group of Stanford researchers announced in August that they had found a way to use nanotechnology to target chemotherapy drugs , keeping healthy tissue in surrounding cells safe from the toxic effects of chemo treatments. The new methodology relies on single-walled carbon nanotubes to function as targeted delivery vehicles.

And in July, scientists at the said they had discovered a way to use nanotechnology-based to streamline lower doses of chemotherapy to cancerous tumors, thereby cutting down on a cancer's ability to spread through the body.