Bio-Engineering Research      Dr. Jones (not his real name), my cardiologist friend, discovered Lai’s research as he searched for information that may help him save his young son from leukemia. The following is a brief synopsis of his truly remarkable findings.      Studies on an ancient Chinese remedy for malaria are now underway to see if this same herb will be as effective for cancer. Seattle scientists, led by Henry Lai, a bioengineering researcher, have discovered that a compound from the wormwood plant killed virtually all human breast cancer cells exposed to it in a test tube within 16 hours, while leaving healthy cells alone.      It seems the malaria parasite and cancer cells have one thing in common. They both like iron. When wormwood comes into contact with iron, a chemical reaction occurs causing free radicals. In the case of malaria, these free radicals attack and bind with membranes of the parasite - effectively killing it.      In the case of breast cancer, these cells have 5-15 times more pathways to let iron in than normal breast cells. Since cancer is characterized by out-of-control cell division, cancer cells have much higher iron concentrations than normal cells…about 3 times more.      The basic strategy is to pump up cancer cells with as much iron as they can hold and then introduce wormwood to kill them…a kind of Trojan horse. In lab tests, after only 8 hours, 75% of the cancer cells were obliterated. Sixteen hours later, nearly 100% of the cancer cells were dead, but the vast majority of normal breast cells did not die. This success is particularly noteworthy because the breast cancer cells used in this experiment had been resistant to radiation. Lai adds, "So that means this approach might work for cancer resistant to conventional therapy."      As might be expected, more aggressive cancers such as pancreatic and acute leukemia, which are characterized by more rapid cell division and thus higher iron concentrations, respond even better. In a separate study, the therapy eliminated leukemia cells in the test tube within 8 hours.      Part of these experiments included a dog with bone cancer known as osteosarcoma. Before treatment the dog could not walk across the room. Within 5 days of receiving treatment, x-rays showed the animals tumor had disappeared and the dog enjoyed a full recovery.