A Small RevolutionIn fewer than 15 years, nanomedicine has gone from fantasy to reality.Many trace the origins of nanomedicine to a talk Richard Feynman gave at Caltech in 1959 in which he suggested that patients might one day "swallow the surgeon". . . .By Erica WestlyMORE TOPICSBiodiversityFundingNeuroscienceSynthetic BiologyOmicsOpinion: Miniaturizing MedicineNanotechnology will offer doctors new ways to diagnose and treat patients, boosting efficiency and slashing costs.Nanotechnology is poised to completely transform the practice of medicine. The unique physical properties of nanomaterials hold multifaceted promise for medical applications, making nanomedicine a game-changing subfield.By Chad MirkinInfographic: Swallowing the SurgeonNanomedicines make use of the new physical properties that materials acquire when miniaturized. With suitable tinkering, the particles can be made ready recipients for an array of molecules including: therapeutic drugs, targeting molecules for cell-specific delivery, surfactants for manipulating the shape of the particle and keeping it in solution, and imaging molecules that track the ...
Nanomedicine
At the nanoscale old materials acquire new properties that International Institute for Nanotechnology Director Chad Mirkin thinks will change the way medicine is practiced.
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