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Nanoparticles in Medicine
 

 

 

What is nanotechnology?

A variety of definitions for nanotechnology have been presented. According to U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) standards, nanotechnology involves all of the following[3]:

bulletResearch and technology development at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular levels, approximately 1–100 nanometers in length.
bulletCreation and use of structures, devices, and systems that have novel properties and functions because of their small and/or intermediate size.
bulletAbility to control or manipulate on the atomic scale.

Why nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology holds various benefits and applications in our everyday lives. It offers use in precision manufacturing, material reuse, and miniaturization to manufacture nanoscale computers. Not only can nanotechnology be applied in manufacturing, it also has uses in medicine such as pharmaceutical creation, surgery by the help of nanomachines, and disease treatment by the help of drug delivery, etc. It even has potential use in environmental aspects like toxic clean up and recycling.

Nanotechnology has especially beneficial uses for developing countries where it can be used to control hunger by increasing crop production through nanoporous fertilizers that exponentially increase crop growth and nanosensors that monitor crop health. Also it may be used to provide clean drinking water and sanitation through the help of nanoclays and nanomembranes made of carbon nanotubes that purify water better than present day viral and bacterial filters. It may offer its application in providing cheap renewable energy by the help of quantum dots that reduce the cost of conventional solar cells.

APPLICATIONS IN BIOMEDICNE:

Nanotechnology has an especially pressing and beneficial use in the field of medicine. It may be used to provide advanced biomedical research tools. It will help by offering labels to experiments done to discover drugs or to test which genes are active or inactive within cells under variable conditions. It is useful in diagnostic tests ad screens to determine a certain individual’s susceptibility to different disorders. This technology may even become a tool for noninvasive imaging for the internal organs of the human body and in drug delivery systems. It may also be use in modifications to the bone implants because this would offer added durability and would be more compatible to with human tissue. This website aims looks into the applicability to nanoparticles in medicine.

 

 

 

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Copyright © 2005 Nanogroup Beta: Jason Feng, Maryam Liaqat, Eric Shubo Ma | Physics 87N: Prof. Hari Manoharan
Last modified: 12/09/05