Nanotechnology in medicine/Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is an applied science dealing with the production and use of such particles and materials that have precisely defined structure at the nanometer level. The term nanotechnology is derived from the Greek words nanos (dwarf) and techne (skill, experience). In medicine, the use of nanotechnology apparently has wide potential including, for example, systems for the targeted distribution of drugs, antibacterial filters, suture materials with advantageous properties or materials that can be used as a substitute for the extracellular matrix in tissue engineering.

The main idea of nanotechnology were formulated by Richard P. Feynman in his article There's a Plenty of Room at the Bottom presented at the American Physical Society Congress in 1959. The author of the term nanotechnology and its enthusiastic promoter is Eric Drexler

Nanotechnology area of interest
In the definition of what nanotechnology actually deals with, the size of the objects of interest plays an important role. Nanotechnology is interested in objects with (at least some) dimensions on the order of nanometers (i.e.10−9 m). However, such objects are also commonly dealt with in some fields of biology, chemistry and physics, so the definition needs to be made more precise. The object of interest in nanotechnology thus includes not only nanoparticles, but also materials created by the assembly of precisely defined basic units (so-called nanostructured materials) and even such objects that exceed the nanometer scale by one or two dimensions (nanofibers, nanofilms). However, what is typical for nanotechnology, is the approach to the synthesis of these objects - in contrast to classical technological approaches, in the case of nanotechnology it is a matter of targeted molecular design and manipulation of individual molecules as much as possible.

Division of nanotechnology
Currently, four main streams of research and development can be distinguished within nanotechnology:
 * nanoelectronics
 * nanomaterials (nanostructured materials)
 * molecular nanotechnology
 * microscopes with nanometer resolution

Nanoelectronics
Nanoelectronics is a field of technology dealing with the application of nanotechnology in the construction of electronic circuits made up of only a few molecules. Due to the small dimensions and extremely low electric currents, the quantum nature of the microworld is significantly applied, and nanoelectronics thus requires a completely new approach to the design of electrical circuits.

Nanostructured materials
Nanostructured materials (nanomaterials) are such materials whose basic structural units are nanoparticles. Spatially arranged nanoparticles can form other structures, such as fibers, tubes or thin layers, but in many applications they are used independently.

There are many types of nanoparticles, the most used and common ones include:
 * dendrimers
 * fullerenes
 * nanocrystals
 * nanocases
 * nanotubes

Molecular nanotechnology
Molecular nanotechnology represents a rather hypothetical area of nanotechnology application, where useful applications cannot be expected within the horizon of a few years. The goal is the construction of complicated systems (machines), whose structural and functional elements are individual molecules. A relatively popular term is a nanobot, i.e. an autonomously behaving robot of nanometer dimensions constructed precisely by the methods of molecular nanotechnology.

Microscopes with nanometer resolution
Some modern microscopic methods, e.g. anatomic force microscopy (AFM) or scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), also fall into the area of nanotechnology interest. The reason is not only that they provie a glimpse into the world of nanometer dimensions, but above all that the construction of their sensing parts is relatively close to nanotechnology.

Lecture presentation

 * Carmel J. Caruana: Nanotechnologie v medicíně
 * J.Šrámek: Nanotechnologie v medicíně (2008/09)