8 of The Most Important Applications of Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine
Now, we are living in the age of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the near-atomic scale to produce new materials, structures and devices. Nanobiotechnology has been applied in life sciences as standard biomedical applications in diverse fields. Nanotechnology has opened the way for breakthrough advances in biology and medicine.
Since the nanotechnology revolution, especially in medicine, many of the concepts and treatment methods have changed. Nanotechnology, for example, offers new methods for drug carriers within the human body that are able to target different cells in the body. With this technique, the cells of the body can be easily visualized as if we were taking a normal picture.
Recent advances in nanotechnology have helped to change medical norms in disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment. Let's have a look at the 8 most important applications of nanotechnology in biology and medicine.
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| Applications of Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine |
Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine: An Overview
What if surgeons have very small and precise methods and are used to examine and eliminate cancer cells?
What if is it possible to isolate an infected part of a living cell, and then replace it with another using a biological machine?
Indeed, if one day man could invent a method, a tiny molecule size, that would deliver the drug to the desired part of the tissue in the body, would it be an extraordinary achievement, an important thing in the world of medicine and technology?
The questions we have raised here,
and many others like them, are not science fiction, especially since 30-40
years ago. Yes, these things are the strength of scientific research,
which scientists are following up at the present time.
If such research
yields fruit, it will undoubtedly revolutionize the science of medicine, the
way of life of mankind.
We can say here that such things, which we mentioned in our questions, are really only possibilities and facilities nanoscience wants to put them under the command of man to facilitate his life.
Nanotechnology has the answers to all of the above questions and can help improve medical standards and facilitate human life.
Importance of Nanotechnology in Medicine
Nanotechnology is an increasingly used term in medicine, biology, and surgery, while developers are discovering new ways and modern techniques to use nanoparticles to their advantage.
The problem with using this technology in biology and medicine is that some people are not even sure what they should expect from nanotechnology, or what it can do but the fact is that this technology has a great impact on these areas.
If you are diabetic, you have to inject insulin several times, or you have cancer, and you have severe side effects from chemotherapy, then the applications of nanotechnology in carrying and delivering drugs can change your life.
After nanotechnology revolution, many treatment concepts and methods have changed in medical science. The use of nanotechnology has become common in the treatment of cancer, atherosclerosis, Alzheimer's disease, tissue engineering, the elimination of infectious diseases, and much more.
Here, we have discussed the most
important applications of nanotechnology, all related to disease prevention and
medical care.
If more research is done in the field of nanotechnology, it
can help doctors provide better treatment and efficient care to patients and
save many lives.
Applications of Nanotechnology in Medicine
Nanomedicine is, in fact, the use of nanotechnology in the prevention and treatment of human diseases, and if integrated, will lead to a radical change in the world of medicine and surgery.
If nanotechnology is used in Laboratory and hospital, doctors can refer to the following points:
I. diagnostic tests for diseases.
II. chemotherapy.
III. Insulin hormone pumps, which
have an effective effect on the treatment of diabetes.
IV. Injecting medicines without
taking advantage of traditional needles and syringes.
V. Auxiliary work in the field of
hearing improvement.
VI. The system of transferring and
sending the medicine to the diseased tissues.
The use of nanotechnology in the fight against cancer is probably the most exciting and greatest of these applications because of the strength of the disease that traditional methods of treatment could not overcome.
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| Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine |
8 Most Important Applications of Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine
Here are 8 of the most important applications of nanotechnology in biology and medicine.
1. Cancer Therapy
Cancer therapy is one of the most common uses of nanotechnology for many people. There have been many new advances in nanotechnology for screening and treatment to remove colon and prostate cancer.
The goal is to use tiny molecules (nanoparticles) to
transport drugs within cancer cells, allowing direct treatment of these cells,
without compromising healthy cells and tissues.
However, this is just one of
many ways nanotechnology can be used to eliminate cancer.
There are other methods that are more effective and less harmful to the patient. Some have been imagined no more, others are going through different stages of testing, or are already being used.
Many researchers have linked ethylene glycol to nanoparticles, which are responsible for delivering a drug to cancer cells. This substance prevents white blood cells (immune cells) from recognizing nanoparticles as foreign matter, which will allow these molecules and their drug to pass through the blood without intercepting the immune system. This substance gives nanoparticles enough time to reach and kill cancer cells directly. However, the scientists of the University of California San Diego believe that the drug's lifespan can be increased by surrounding the nanoparticles with a membrane of red blood cells.
Experiments have shown that this method kept the drug in the blood of mice for up to two days, rather than the few hours that ethylene glycol provided.
Specific protein substances are also added to this membrane so that nanoparticles can recognize the cancer cell and break into it without other healthy cells. This method enables the drug initiation time to be programmed, which will increase the effectiveness of treatment and decrease the toxicity known to chemotherapy.
2. Protein detection
There are a few microscopic tools and techniques used to identify, characterize and detect proteins using dyes and gold particles, which can be used in scanning with cameras, but the problem here is that they often may be time-consuming and limited in their efficiency.
Information derived from protein-protein interactions (PPIs) can be a boon
for the bioengineering and biomedical industry.
It is possible to make small
sensors using nanotechnology to detect PPIs in blood serum, as researchers try
to reduce proteins that lead cancer cells to spread in the body and grow.
Highly sensitive, pore-based biophysical devices, known as nanobiosensors, can
detect mechanistic processes such as protein-protein interactions
(PPIs) at the single-molecule level.
Even though PPIs occur everywhere in
the human body, they are difficult to detect with current methods because they
last about a millisecond.
Nanotechnology can take a more precise approach to nanoparticles, scattering particles and dyes, and sometimes both, and this may sound like science fiction for some, with some curiosity about practical effects.
A broader perspective and an extensive knowledge of human genetics have opened a new boundary for identifying various functional proteins that share brief physiological associations with other proteins.
Major
disturbances in the strength of protein-protein interactions lead to
disease conditions.
Due to the temporary nature of these interactions, modern
techniques and new methods are needed to evaluate them.
3. Multicolor optical coding
A color code is a technique of showing information using different colors. It is a very important part of genetics when sequencing is defined and provides a visual map of proteins and genes that facilitate the identification of defects, sequences, and anomalies.
There are many problems with using the traditional method of
dyes and the old systems of colors as there are only a few colors used in the
series, but the development of nanotechnology and colored particles has solved
those problems.
This new system uses a sequence of semiconductor compounds
to handle and combine more independently so that they form new patterns of
optical coding of fusion genes and multicolor quantum series of
colors.
Optical coding of fusion genes using multicolor quantum series can help diagnose prostate cancer.
4. Tissue engineering
The field of tissue engineering has
developed considerably. One of the best developments in tissue engineering is
the use of artificial implants that can include new joints, vascular grafts,
plates, and screws to repair fractures or broken bones and take over missing
tissues and other structural functions.
In this process, generally, chemical
materials such as titanium implants are used but the problem with such elements
is that the body may easily reject such materials as foreign bodies.
In tissue engineering, chemistry, engineering, biology, and medicine combine to form structures and frameworks that simulate the characteristics of natural tissue and support new tissue development.
A recent study reports that
nanoparticle tissue engineering can create new geometries of tissue that allow
"bones" and tissues to merge. This geometry can also be used in a
porous structure that allows nutrients to pass through it.
With further advances
in tissue engineering, this technique can play an important role in improving
plastic surgery and organ transplantation.
5. Cell manipulation
The beauty of man-made nanoparticles
lies in the fact that they are made of the most suitable material for action,
with appropriate properties, some nanoparticles use capsules to disperse and
transport elements in a certain area of the body.
While other nanoparticles use
magnetism to manipulate the structure of tissues and the shape of cells.
The effect of nanoparticles and
magnetic force can be adjusted using various types of materials and multiple
ranges and thicknesses of metal.
Here, not only biological cells are
manipulated, but also the technology itself. This is an idealistic approach
because it allows addressing each problem individually rather than one approach
that fits all health issues.
6. Nanoparticles and Heart Disease
Researchers at Clemson University, South Carolina, have developed nanoparticles that use protein and deliver it to the affected areas and clots it to the arteries, enabling the drug to reach directly to the affected areas.
Laboratory experiments in mice have
shown that the use of nanoparticles to deliver the drug needed to dissolve the
clots - known as Tissue plasminogen activator (TPA) - (An intravenous drug,
which dissolves clots in the arterial wall, which improves blood flow in the
affected area) can reduce the required dose of this drug, which reduces
possible side effects (such as internal bleeding).
This is done by attaching
this substance to clusters of nanoparticles, which separate from each other and
release the drug in the affected area only.
7. Commercial Exploration
The recent development of nanotechnology indicates that our current understanding of nanoparticles can bring developers to many different fields, where nanotechnology is certainly not limited to the medical field, although this has become the main goal of many developers.
There are many commercial projects, some related to health care and medicine and some related to other areas where the use of nanotechnology can be beneficial. Among them is the creation of dressings and band-aids with silver nanoparticles and other antimicrobial materials.
Some developers want to find out the potential of filtration systems using nanotechnology and metals such as nano-ceramics, including those studying hybrid bio-nano materials for the development of electronics and optoelectronics.
8. Antibacterial Treatment
One of the earliest applications of nanotechnology in medicine - nanomedicine applications - was the use of nanocrystalline silver as an antimicrobial agent for wound healing.
Many researchers from the University of Houston (UH), Texas, are developing techniques and evolving treatment methods to kill bacteria using infrared light and gold nanoparticles. This method can lead to better cleaning of equipment in a hospital setting.
A nanoparticle cream has been shown to fight staph infection. Nanoparticles contain nitric oxide gas, which is known to kill bacteria. Burnt dressing coated with nanocapsules containing antibiotics.
If an infection initiates harmful bacteria in the wound, it causes the nanocapsules to break open, releasing antibiotics. This allows the treatment of infection very quickly and reduces the number of times a dressing has to be changed.
The Future of Nanotechnology in Medicine
Thus, Nanotechnology in Medicine or nanomedicine will be the future for the miracles that can be achieved. As traditional medicine has managed in the past to cure many diseases, the development in this area could be the inevitable end of incurable diseases such as AIDS and cancer.
For many people, nanotechnology is a big window into the future of medicine and biomechanics, but the nature and precision of this science make it seem like a far-fetched technology.
The fact is that the examples of nanotechnology applications discussed above, are all functional and constantly evolving, meaning that there is ample scope for future projects with the cell targeting and medicine delivery system, offering many opportunities to make them more efficient and cost-effective.
There is hope that these applications will become multifunctional with various medical processes and different medical benefits.
The door of nanotechnology is now open for everyone and the time of nanomedicine has begun, and there is still much to learn.