The National Cancer Institute spends roughly $4.8 billion a year on cancer research, allocated to various cancer types, in the U.S. alone.

Innovation is key in the fight against cancer. There are currently over 200 drug treatments available for doctors to prescribe, but  the problem with this is that the results vary wildly from patient to patient. A miracle drug for one patient may be an ineffective placebo for the next. Doctors must try out different treatments and observe the patient’s responses over time to decide a treatment plan, often at the detriment of their patient’s health.

An Israeli engineer believes he’s found the answer to this problem, creating a method to personalize treatment rapidly and effectively without putting the patient at risk.

According to Haaretz, Avi Shroeder, a nanotechnology engineer, and his team at the Israel Institue of Technology may have discovered the solution through nanotechnology. Nanotechnology involves the manipulation of matter at atomic levels, allowing for miniscule drug dosages and custom treatments.

Utilizing Shroeder’s technology, multiple nanoparticles can be delivered to the cancerous region of the patient. These nanoparticles each contain a small dose of a single drug, “bar-coded” with a strand of DNA. The process is likened to allergy testing, applying allergens to the skin to see if there is an adverse reaction. At such small doses, the various treatments won’t cause any negative side effects for the patient.

After the nanoparticles are delivered, the tumor is removed and biopsied to determine which treatments were effective. The doctors can then use this information, derived from the living tissue of their patient, to make more effective treatment recommendations. This would minimize any suffering due to treatment-related side effects.

The testing Shroeder and his team did was based on skin and breast cancer. The team is currently working to refine the method, aiming to speed up their diagnostic process.