Nanotechnology in Medicine: Fine cures for the future

In the 16th century, a draper's apprentice in a town near Amsterdam described the secret life of microbes through his superb hand-crafted microscopes. Since then, man has been diligently delving into his microenvironment. In 1981, Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer at the IBM Zurich Re-search Laboratory developed the scanning tunneling microscope, which could actually probe the atomic structure of substances. In 1986 and mdash;the year that Binnig and Rohrer were awarded the Nobel and mdash;American Eric Drexler published his book, Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology which excited great academic ferment. Nanotechnology started as a jumble of curiosities and household utilities (sun screens, stain resistant pans), but its burgeoning applications have truly transformed the face of science and technology. Its unique properties make nanoparticle extraordinarily beneficial to medicine. Size, of course, is the key. Nanostructured material will cross biological membranes (such as the blood brain barrier) with facility. Whereas larger drug particles will be easily cleared from the body, nanoparticles can be configured to survive within the body, enduring phagocytosis by the scavenger white cells themselves. By coating nanoparticles with chemicals, or even red blood cell-membranes, the very cells that are programmed to destroy foreign objects can be used to ferry nanoparticles deeper into the inter-stices of the body and mdash;into the very cytoplasm of target cells. Drugs can be made to seep in a controlled manner into the gastrointestinal tract from nanomatrix material.