GoingToMeet

Nanodevices and nanoparticles enable study of a wide range of biological phenomena extending from protein-protein interaction mapping to cancer detection in intact animals and man. Recent advances in materials science, in particular the development of functionalized nanoparticles, united with advances in molecular imaging research, provide the impetus for the present explosion in nanobiotechnology imaging research.

Key to those advances is the emergence of functionalized nanoparticles, particularly quantum dots (QDs) that can be targeted specifically to receptors, enzymes, transporters and other molecules of biological importance that can interact at the cellular level. Additionally, over the last five years there has been a proliferation of high-resolution devices for in vivo imaging in animal models of human disease and high-throughput, i.e., microarray and combinatorial, techniques for generating new diagnostic and therapeutic targets and probes.

Nanotechnology in the Life-sciences is omnipresent. Several biological systems operate at the nanoscale with remarkable precision and regulation. A fine example is that of biomolecular motor proteins, designed by nature to carry out critical functions in the cell. Most of the properties of these proteins are nanoscale, be they size or time of operation. While systems such as motors have been isolated, modified and studied in detail at the biochemical level, much needs to be done at the level of hybrid structures with interfaces to inorganic materials. Further, scaling laws need to be understood in order to bridge between single molecules and higher order devices or architectures.