Applications of nanotechnology in medicines

One of the most important applications of nanotechnology is medicine. Biology involves many small-scale objects such as the fundamental unit of life—the cell—most of which are about 0.001-0.004 inches (0.0025-0.01 cm) in diameter, and proteins, the large molecules that perform a variety of important functions in the body. Many of the diseases that afflict people arise because of problems with certain cells or proteins. 

Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology in prevention, diagnostics and treatment of diseases. In this handbook, the term Biomedical Nanoengineering is used to address the engineering issues in the biomedical applications of nanomaterials and nanodevices. In October 2003, the NIH announced the NanoMedicine Initiative (NMI) [1]. The NMI envisions, for example, the biomedical nanodevices or nanosystems to search out and destroy the very first cancer cells of a tumor developing in the body, the biological nanomachines to remove and replace the cell s broken part, and the molecule-sized pumps to deliver life-saving medicines precisely where they are needed in the human body. 

Nanomedicine is concerned with the application of nanotechnology to medicine [18], In addition to futuristic (and often scary) scenarios such as those represented by nanorobots operating inside the human body, more realistic applications of nanomedicine have been proposed. Among them, we mention the development of nanocapsules for drug delivery, fullerene-based drugs and sensors, artificial enzymes and antibodies, and tools for medical diagnostics and monitoring. 

Application of coordination compounds in medicine, materials chemistry, and as catalysts are mentioned and are cross-referenced to a fuller discussion in Volume 9. Comment is made on application of complexes in nanotechnology, and on the molecular modeling of complexes. The material cannot be totally comprehensive because of space limitations, but is selected in such a way to give the most effective review of discoveries and new interpretations. 

Nanotechnology offers the promise of specific targeting in medicine because its size is on the same scale as cells and proteins it needs to find. Instead of flooding the body with medication, medical applications of nanotechnology zooms in on the problem areas. Nanotechnology seeks to hunt down the bad guys while leaving the peaceful population alone. 

Kim, J., Cai, Z., Chen, Y., 2010. Biocompatible bacterial cellulose composites for biomedical application. Journal of Nanotechnology in Engineering and Medicine 1 (1) 011006. 

Polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimers have drawn considerable interest in recent years due to their potential applications in medicine, nanotechnology, and catalysis (6,7). The ability to control dendrimer interior/exterior functionalities and the macromolecular architecture of PAMAM dendrimers... 

Nanotechnology and surface science In recent decades, for example, the application of nanoscience and nanotechnology has developed since the molecular studies of surfaces at nanoscale have reached a much higher level. Nanotechnology is now a popular topic in materials science, and other areas are also emerging. It has deserved this popularity because of its interdisciplinary character, calling for expertise in physics, chemistry, biology, and medicine. Many materials properties are studied in detail. 

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