Nanotechnology, the manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular
scale to create materials with remarkably varied and new properties, is a
rapidly expanding area of research with huge potential in many sectors, ranging
from healthcare to construction and electronics. In medicine, it promises to
revolutionize drug delivery, gene therapy, diagnostics, and many areas of
research, development and clinical application.
This article does not attempt to cover the whole field, but offers, by means of some examples, a few insights into how nanotechnology has the potential to change medicine, both in the research lab and clinically, while touching on some of the challenges and concerns that it raises.
The ability to manipulate structures and properties at the nanoscale in medicine is like having a sub-microscopic lab bench on which you can handle cell components, viruses or pieces of DNA, using a range of tiny tools, robots and tubes.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/244972.php
This article does not attempt to cover the whole field, but offers, by means of some examples, a few insights into how nanotechnology has the potential to change medicine, both in the research lab and clinically, while touching on some of the challenges and concerns that it raises.
What is Nanotechnology?
The prefix "nano" stems from the ancient Greek for "dwarf". In science it means one billionth (10 to the minus 9) of something, thus a nanometer (nm) is is one billionth of a meter, or 0.000000001 meters. A nanometer is about three to five atoms wide, or some 40,000 times smaller than the thickness of human hair. A virus is typically 100 nm in size.The ability to manipulate structures and properties at the nanoscale in medicine is like having a sub-microscopic lab bench on which you can handle cell components, viruses or pieces of DNA, using a range of tiny tools, robots and tubes.
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/244972.php
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