The online scientific journal Small reports that a research team at Northwestern University has demonstrated a tool that can precisely deliver tiny doses of drug-carrying nanomaterials to individual cells. The tool, called the Nanofountain Probe, functions in two different ways: in one mode, the probe acts like a fountain pen, wherein drug-coated nanodiamonds serve as the ink which can be used to create devices by writing with it and for direct patterning of DNA and proteins and to pattern dot arrays of drug-coated nanodiamonds directly on glass substrates. The second mode functions as a single-cell syringe, permitting direct injection of biomolecules or chemicals into individual cells.The probe could be used both as a research tool in the development of next-generation cancer treatments and as a nanomanufacturing tool to build the implantable drug delivery devices that will apply these treatments. The potential of nanomaterials to revolutionize drug delivery is emergent in early trials, which show their ability to moderate the release of highly toxic chemotherapy drugs and other therapeutics. This provides a platform for drug-delivery schemes with reduced side effects and improved targeting. Using nanofountain Probe to target and inject single cells with a dose of nanodiamonds should allow the delivery of precise dose to target cell.