Free Nano by Robin Cook Page A

up of a protein called beta-amyloid, or by neurofibrillary tangles, also caused by misplaced proteins called tau. In each case, the hard proteins built up to such a degree that they blocked neuron transmission, killing the brain one neuron at a time. When tau proteins performed their proper function, they physically assisted in the feeding and maintenance of the neuron, but under certain conditions, the tau came together like strands of thread, to disrupt and destroy the microtubules that made up the structure of the neuron.
    Berman shuddered, unable to avoid the horror of imagining himself sitting where his mother was now. Although the home was clean and well run, it still reeked of old, incapacitated people, of urine and God knows what else. He hated to see his mother like this and hated to be in such a depressing place, but still he came, despite his mother’s not recognizing him or even remembering he’d been there.
    As he watched his mother, he felt a rising sense of anxiety that he had to speed up the work with the microbivores. They had to be available if and when he started a downhill course, maybe even before that happened. Each day when he couldn’t remember some fact or figure, he worried that it was starting. A few hours earlier, while he was on the plane, he couldn’t remember the name of his favorite movie actor. It hadn’t been until he’d gotten back to his office at Nano that the name Tom Hanks came to him out of the blue and relieved his anxiety.
    Berman believed that the microbivores were going to be the answer since they had the theoretical ability to work within the brain, identifying and destroying rogue tau proteins and beta-amyloidal plaque. But if his team followed the typical development path, they were looking at years of work and a huge amount of fund-raising that had been taxing his creativity. But now he had a source. He just had to make sure the spigot stayed open, meaning he needed results.
    “Who are you?” Susan suddenly challenged. “What are you doing in my room? Get out of here.” Her voice had risen to a shout, bringing the nurse in at a run.
    Zachary said nothing during this short tirade. It had happened in the past, and nothing he had said on those occasions comforted her. She needed the nurse, whom she recognized on some level. He quieted her down, and she went back to watching the birds.
    After his initial success in nonmedical nanotechnology, Berman had invested heavily and hired the best minds he could afford to move the company into the medical realm, particularly after the breakthroughs they’d managed in molecular manufacturing. It had been Berman’s idea to mimic the way living cells used ribosomes to manufacture proteins that had put Nano way ahead of the competition in the molecular manufacturing nanorobot arena. With his continued urging, the first product of this method was the Nano microbivore, which had been theoretically designed more than a decade previously.
    At the same time the microbivore molecular manufacturing project was under way, Berman launched a private investigation of Alzheimer’s disease. More than a few of the scientists Berman had hired at Nano were working on diagnostic tests for Alzheimer’s with the idea that the earlier the protein buildup could be detected, the better chance doctors had of slowing the spread of the disease. It stood to reason. It was around that time that Berman had allowed himself to be secretly tested for the predictive gene, which only served to heighten his general anxiety.
    As the light began to fade outside the window of his mother’s room, Berman slowly got to his feet. He truly hated coming to visit her. In a strange way he thought it was disrespectful to her as a person. Inwardly he suspected that if she knew how she was going to end up, she’d be the first to tell him not to come but rather to remember how she had been as a loving mother.
    Without trying to say good-bye, Zachary descended the long hall toward