Monitoring, diagnostic, and therapeutic technologies for nanoscale medicine

J Nanosci Nanotechnol. 2007 Sep;7(9):2949-68. doi: 10.1166/jnn.2007.893.

Abstract

The advent of medically-relevant technologies forged at the interface of life science and engineering will undoubtedly play a major role in shaping the next-generation of experimental as well as clinical medicine. This review will explore the development of a suite of platform modalities that can be employed towards medical diagnostics and therapeutics. Their specific relevance and impact towards cardiovascular medicine will be realized through biotic-abiotic coalescence, or the bridging of biological materials such as cells and proteins with non-biological materials such as polymers or solid-state devices. These modalities include: (1) Real-Time Cellular Interrogation Technology, which enables real-time investigation, or examination of cellular signal transduction and gene expression as a response to environmental conditions; (2) Diagnostic Devices, which include the fabrication of micro/nano sensors for the targeting of molecules indicative of cellular disorders; and (3) Therapeutics, or the engineering of membrane mimetics, or biomolecule-functionalized thin films as strategies for synthetic biological regenerative medicine, as well as therapeutically-active polymers as biocompatible coatings for implants, to name a few. These approaches collectively represent a universally-applicable, and comprehensive diagnostic-treatment strategy whereby cardiovascular disorders, or medical diseases in general can be diagnosed, monitored, and fundamentally understood to unprecedented levels. In turn, these conditions can be therapeutically addressed using drug-releasing nanostructured polymers with minimal intrusion upon normal cellular behavior, or biologically-active hybrid membrane devices based upon the interface of proteins with robust biomimetic polymers.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Biocompatible Materials / chemistry*
  • Biomimetics
  • Chemistry, Pharmaceutical / methods
  • Drug Design
  • Fungal Proteins / chemistry
  • Humans
  • Microscopy, Atomic Force / methods
  • Nanomedicine / methods*
  • Nanoparticles
  • Nanotechnology / methods*
  • Nanowires
  • Polymers / chemistry
  • Signal Transduction
  • Tissue Engineering

Substances

  • Biocompatible Materials
  • Fungal Proteins
  • Polymers