Nanotechnology Applications in Medicine
Dr. J Malcolm Wilkinson
June 1, 2003
This ariticle summerarized the potential medical applications for nanotechnology in particular, the use of "nano-machines." It is clear that the use of nanotechnology in medical applications is still at a very early stage. However, the potential benefits are enormous and potential applications widespread.
In particular, this article talks about how nanotechnology is attracting a lot of attention from governments, academia, and industry even though its difficult to get scientists to agree on a precise definition of what the term "nanotechnology" actually means and how it differs from microtechnology. With this debate aside, the article explores the various nano-medical applications such as its use in surgical tools and medicine.
From Molecular biology to nanotechnology and nanomedicine
Februaury 10, 2002
New advances in technology have allowed scientists and researchers to work in smaller areas of biology then ever before. Using newly designed nanomachines, biologists have been able to perform polymerace chain reactions on a smaller and more accurate scale. They have assisted in the creation of small DNA based structures and triggers that can be placed in the bloodstream to help achieve tasks such as decomposition of fatty acids and assisting in the destruction of intruding microorganisms.
Small carbon structures such as bucky balls and nanotubes have allowed biologists to make actual functioning machines that could be injected into the bloodstream and repair or replace damaged cells. Futures technologies may lead to building artificial cell membranes to work in cooperation with regular membranes. Artificial red blood cells have already been created and carry more oxygen through the bloodstream than naturally occuring cells can.
American Chemical Society
December 17, 2003
Nano machines are the latest part of the increasing technology in medical fields. There is a new tiny nanowire sensor that will help doctors diagnose problems more efficiently and in less time. This sensor is extremely small and can detect things faster then conventional DNA testing. The sensitivity of this new object will possibly save lives because it will detect problems that DNA testing would have missed. Most of these diseases will be caught by the nanowire sensors in the bloodstream, but in the future it will be used to test anything from urine to saliva. Retrieving the results from a DNA test is far more complicated and expensive then merely gathering the information from a nanowire in a matter of minutes. These new machines will be a tremendous benefit to the medical field because they will enable doctors to discover and treat diseases in a much more timely fashion.
The sensor have been tested and shown to detect all forms of Cystic Fibrosis better then the conventional way of detecting the disease. An experiment was done that proved the nanowire's power to distinguish between different severitites of the disease. This is a major breakthrough because the nanowire will explain when a Cystic Fibrosis gene is fatal and when it is not, which is something DNA testing could not do. After a patient has received a blood test, he or she can find out their complete diagnosis in only a few minutes. This will make going to the doctor's office actually worthwhile because a correct answer to the symptoms will be given almost immediately on the spot. This new technology has branched off into many other fields. There are many newly created companies that use all types of nanomachines for everyday life. This research is very inventive and expects to be in full swing before the end of the decade.
June 2003 v14 i5 p29
Nanotechnology is the subject of muych debate in the scientific intellectual world. What sorts of technology can be called nanotechnology is not often agreed on, but it is agreed that it must be a "bottom-up" process. Bottom-up means, building structures, sometimes called "nanomachines," from a molecular level piece by piece, as opposed to breaking pieces off of larger structures. Nanotechnology has already reached a long range of interest seems to be in medicine.
In the biomedical world, hospitals are using burn dressings (bandages) that fight hundreds of kinds of bacterial infections using nanotechnology. As a result patients have a much faster healing time and lower possiblity of scaring. Batteries may be strongly effected by nanotechnology, because new metal oxides will allow longer life than was ever possible until now. In hospitals, surgical tools are being made sharper and capsules are being made so that medicine can reach the body faster. The potential benefits in cancer research are invaluable. Doctors are developing ways to target and kill tumor cells using nanotechnology. It is obvious that nanotechnology and its nanomachines will soon have and already has had a huge impact on the medical field.
Nano Medicine
David Weber
Health Forum Journal August 2002 v42
Nanotechnology is an up and coming industry that has very high expectations in the medical field. The opportunities are endless for how nanotechnology will affect the medical industry in the next decade and it is directly related with the field of physics. It is predicted that nanorobots will be able to clear obstructions in the circulatory system, poisoning cancer cells, treating bacterial and viral infections, delivering oxygen to tissues damaged by injury or chronic disease, and monitoring and reporting on internal bodily conditions for diagnostic purposes. Some scientists even project that "nanomedicine will eliminate virtually all common diseases of the 20th century, virtually all medical pain and suffering."
The Ebola virus is a very serious virus that affects many of the world's cities. Now with nanotechnology this virus is curable and treatable. Physicians can inject their patients with saline solution containing a therapeutic titer of four trillion diamondoid medical robots. Searching for infected cells, the robots speed through the patients' veins, arteries, and capillaries, propelled by acoustic signals. Each robot consists of a shell, one carbon atom thick, that encloses a DNA computer, sensors and tubular tank filled wiht Ebola-specific antivirus. When the nanorobot detects viral RNA it destroys it on contact.