WIKIMEDIA, MDOUGMGreat things sometimes come in small packages. Indeed, in recent years, the smallest packages of all—nanoparticles—have proven their worth in delivering potent cancer drugs directly to the site of the tumor, allowing doctors to minimize the often dangerous side effects of chemotherapy. According to the National Cancer Institute, the field of nanomedicine grew exponentially from 2000 to 2010, and the agency predicts that the United States workforce in nanomedicine will reach 2 million by 2015.
“Many in the field see that now is a tipping point for nanomedicines,” Greg Berk, chief medical officer of the Cambridge, Massachusetts-based nanomedicines company BIND Therapeutics, wrote in an email to The Scientist. “[N]next generation nanomedicine technologies have emerged recently with abilities to be highly selective and targeted to deliver high drug concentration to disease sites, a major advance in cancer drug development.”
Nanomedicine started creating its own footprint in the sands of cancer research back in the mid-1970s when a group of European researchers discovered what would eventually become known as the liposome. These nano-sized, spherical structures form spontaneously when naturally occurring or synthetic lipids are exposed to water. Although they were identified by accident, these same researchers soon realized the potential of liposomes ...
