INTRODUCTION/SUMMARY
Drug discovery technology involves innumerable assays to determine the molecular affinities and potential toxic effects of drug candidates. In the
past decade, through the application of combinatorial chemistry and genomics, the number of drug candidates has increases logarithmically. To sort
through these now astronomical numbers of potential blockbusters, the pharmaceutical industry has applied increasingly miniaturized and robotic assays
systems.
Miniaturization not only saves on scarce resources, such as purified proteins, but also decreases the time, another precious commodity,
involved in doing assays.
Nanotechnology involves the miniaturization of devices beyond microengineering; however, at nanoscale, materials can have
quite different properties, as different physical principles, for instance, van der Wall's forces, become more dominant. Intuitive understanding of
forces like friction or surface tension are not useful at the nano level. Nanostructured materials may be very much stronger and lighter than
conventional bulk materials. Some nanostructured materials have new and unexpected properties, such as "quantum dots" that fluoresce at
different wavelengths depending upon their size. Nanomaterials may be used to create nanodevices with defined functions.
Biomolecules such as
protein and DNA are also easily exploited to make nanodevices. Like fullerenes, biomolecules generally have a carbon backbone, but one that is widely
substituted with modifiable chemical groups. Because their biochemistry is well understood, DNA and proteins are being used structurally now to build
nanodevices.
The favorite manufactured items used by nanotechnologists have diameters comparable to smallest objects found in nature. Six-carbon
atoms lined end to end are about 1 nm in diameter. Perhaps surprisingly, the synthetic molecule, buckminster fullerene, which contains 60 carbons, has
the same diameter. Despite the large molecular weight, because C60 is approximately spherical is minimal. Even so, C60 can be made to cage other
molecules, including some used for medical imaging purposes. Fullerene derivatives, such as nanotubes, have smaller diameters than C60. Commercially
available nanoparticles are actually quite a bit smaller than cells, about the same size as an average virus.
It is apparent that nanoscale
fabrication has already reached the scale of biomolecules. The problem that remains is how to apply nanotechnology to biomedical requirements, and
even more difficult, how to make it marketable. Nanoscale devices are now being used for contrast agents for imaging purposes, for bioassays, as drug
delivery agents, and even as drug equivalents.
The topics found in the following archive include:
- Basic Science
- Biomimetics
- Designer Macromolecules
- Diagnostics and Analytics
- Drugs and Drug Delivery
- Molecular Motors
- Nanotools
- Nanotubes and Nanowires
- Fluidics
- Imaging
- Informatics
- Thin Films
- Industry News
- Patents
View Cart
