A U.S. research team claims to have developed a fluorescent material that can zero in on cancer cells.

According to BBC online the Seattle Children’s Hospital Research Institute and the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center have developed a material that fuses with cancer cells.

The material combines fluorescein and a substance extracted from scorpion poison, which clings to the cells. It marks the cells by discharing photons in the near infrared spectrum.

Existing technology such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) can only identify cancer cells when they number more than a million. The new substance can detect tumors with less than two thousand cells --- a sensitivity 500 times stronger than MRI.