NANOBIOTECHNOLOGY
Introduction:
Nanotechnology is an area of science involved in designing, building and manipulating structures at the nanometer scale. A nanometer (nm) is one billionth of a meter, and it’s the size scale of molecules. For example:
A human hair is approximately 200,000nm in diameter.
DNA is about 2nm in diameter.
Bounds between many atoms are around 0.15nm long.
Nanobiotechnology, bionanotechnology, and nanobiology are terms that refer to the intersection of nanotechnology and biology. The terms are often used interchangeably. When a distinction is intended, though, it is based on whether the focus is on applying biological ideas or on studying biology with nanotechnology.
• Bionanotechnology generally refers to
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In other words, nanobiotechnology is essentially miniaturized biotechnology, whereas bionanotechnology is a specific application of nanotechnology. For example, DNA nanotechnology or cellular engineering would be classified as bionanotechnology because they involve working with biomolecules on the nanoscale. Conversely, many new medical technologies involving nanoparticles as delivery systems or as sensors would be examples of nanobiotechnology since they involve using nanotechnology to advance the goals of biology.
Objectives of Nanobiotechnology:
• The most important objectives that are frequently found in nanobiology involve applying nanotools to relevant medical/biological problems and refining these applications.
• Developing new tools, such as peptoid nanosheets, for medical and biological purposes is another primary objective in nanotechnology. New nanotools are often made by refining the applications of the nanotools that are already being used.
• The imaging of native biomolecules, biological membranes, and tissues is also a major topic for the nanobiology
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Nanobiotechnology is much more commonplace in that it simply provides more tools for the study of biology. Bionanotechnology, on the other hand, promises to recreate biological mechanisms and pathways in a form that is useful in other ways.
Nanomedicine
Nanomedicine is the medical application of nanotechnology. Nanomedicine ranges from the medical applications of nanomaterials and biological devices, to nanoelectronic biosensors, and even possible future applications of molecular nanotechnology such as biological machines. Current problems for nanomedicine involve understanding the issues related to toxicity and environmental impact of nanoscale materials (materials whose structure is on the scale of nanometers, i.e. billionths of a meter).
Some nanotechnology-based drugs that are commercially available or in human clinical trials
For 8 weeks of vacation work I have been looking at preparing and characterizing nanoparticulate systems to encapsulate the antimicrobial drug mupirocin. Specifically polymeric nanoparticles and liposomes were investigated.
Amandi Hiyare: Before forming my research question, I had a discussion with my research project coordinator “Lisa Pope” who told me that the Flinders nanotechnology research team has been developing microbial catheters. Then on Monday I had an interview with Professor Joe Shapter who told me that your team was leading this project. So I was wondering whether you would be able to provide me with some detailed information about this innovation?
Lovgren, Stefan. Can Art Make Nanotechnology Easier t Understand? 23 December 2003. Web. 3 May 2014. .
In the article “Pinpointing Cancer Fight,” Liz Szabo states the uses of nanotechnology and how researchers are attempting to use this advancement to fight cancer. She defines that nanotechnology is a type of technology that creates devices on an atomic level; this equipment can allow people such as researchers to use its ability to detect cancerous cells as well as treat them. Szabo remains a neutral tone as she states that while some are against the idea of using nanotechnology since there are many risks, others are optimistic that it may lead to transformational results. She presents a list of some products developed through nanotechnology and explains its usage in addition to mentioning the failure of those nanotech products. Szabo provides
The structures of liposomes are spherical and are usually between 15nm and 1000 nm in diameter. They are able to target the ligands that are attached to their surface to direct them to the appropriate sites wi...
They have a larger surface area in proportion to their volume. This enables them to interact with different types of biological systems and provides a wide variety of possibilities (Nuruzatulifah, Nizam, & Ain, 2015). The nanoparticles can be seen by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). When there is one nanoparticle, it is called a primary particle. When there is more than one, it is called a secondary particle. In order to measure these particles, they need to be suspended in a solution (Pruneanu, Coros & Pogacean, 2015). Dyed nanoparticles or internally fluorescent nanoparticles barely interact with cellular proteins which is what the study requires. They are also quite easy to manipulate. They can be easily internalized into cells and can be programmed to go to specific sites (Wolbeis,
It is clear that nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize health care and even transport
It concerns all specialties of medecine, from pathology and oncology to cosmetic and reconstructive surgery.Currently, nanomedicine applications have been approved and are currently used for diagnostic procedures, body and organ imaging, surgical tools, drug delivery systems and gene therapies. [5,6]
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of structures at nano levels. It uses incredibly small materials, devices, and systems to manipulate matter. These structures are measured in nanometers, or one billionth of a meter, and can be used by themselves or as part of larg...
According to E.A. Zerhouni, MD, former director of the National Institutes of Health has described molecular imaging as having “the potential to define itself as a core interdisciplinary science for extracting spatially and temporally resolved biological information at all physical scales from Angstroms to microns to centimeters in intact biological systems.” (Eugene P. Pendergrass New Horizons Lecture, Radiological Society of North America meeting, 2007)1. Molecular imaging aims at developing imaging instruments, imaging probes, assays, and quantification methods. Imaging can be done using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), X-ray computed tomography (CT), positron emission tomography (PET), single photon emission computed tomography (SPECT), and optical (bioluminescence and fluorescence imaging)etc. The process of imaging can be elucidated as below:
Electron microscope is a powerful tool that enables the study of particles in nanometer range.
In the novel, Prey, written by Michael Crichton it pertains to the subject of nanotechnology throughout the whole entire book. The main characters of this novel are the
d) Beyer T, Freudenberg L, Townsend D, Czernin J (2010). The future of hybrid imaging—part 1: Hybrid imaging technologies and SPECT/CT. Insights Into Imaging: 1-9. [PMC free article]. URL http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3288981/
Nanotechnology has found many potential applications in the area of functional foods by engineering biological molecules toward functions very different from those they have in nature, opening up a whole new area of research and development.
Nanotechnology includes nanorobots which are so small that they can be injected into the human bloodstream after which the nanorobots can do investigations or repair at cellular level. Nanorobots could optimize the delivery of pharmaceutical products, these means that medicines which are targeted on a specific type of cells can be delivered to only those cells by the nanorobots. The robots can attach to the cells after which they can inject the drug into the target cells. This could be a great breakthrough for cancer treatments such as chemotherapy because there is a minimal chance of injecting healthy cells with the drug and therefor negative side effects can be avoided.