View
1.514
Download
3
Category
Preview:
DESCRIPTION
Citation preview
Nanotechnology
&
Medicine
Nanoscience
• The prefix “nano”is a Greek word for “dwarf”• One nanometer (nm) is equal to one-billionth of a
meter• About a width of 6 carbon atoms or 10 water
molecules• A human hair is approximately 80,000 nm wide• Red blood cells is 7000 nm wide• Atoms are smaller than 1 nanometer• Molecules and some proteins are between 1 nm and
above
Nanoscience
• The concept of nanotechnology was first coined by Richard Feynman in 1959 in his lecture “There’s plenty of room at the bottom”
• Manipulating material at a scale of individual atoms and molecules
• Imagining the whole Encyclopedia Britannica written on head of a pin
Nanoscience
• At IBM in the US, a technique called electron beam lithography was used to create nanostructures and devices as small as 40 to 70 nm in the early 1970s
Nanotechnology in Medicine
Nanotechnology is a new field with many possible uses, medicine being one of them
Nanotechnology• “The manufacturing technology of the 21st
century"
• The study and manufacture of devices of molecular dimensions, in the range of nanometers or one-billionth of a meter
• Most of industrial manufacturing processes are based on top-down technologies -- i.e., they take larger objects and make them smaller yielding products of fairly high precision and complexity
Nanotechnology
DNA serves as a data-storage system, transmitting digital instructions to
molecular machines e.g., the ribosomes, that manufacture protein molecules.
Nanomedicine
• Some medicines are made through biotechnological processes, for example those using recombinant DNA (human hepatitis vaccine)
• Under these processes the DNA of living creatures (usually bacteria) is altered
• Nanotechnology represents a similar approach to the manufacture of pharmaceuticals and other goods.
Nanorobots: Medicine of the Future
• What are they?• Nanorobots are nanodevices that will be used for
the purpose of maintaining and protecting the human body against pathogens.
• They will have a diameter of about 0.5 to 3 microns and will be constructed out of parts with dimensions in the range of 1 to 100 nanometers
Nanorobots
• The powering of the nanorobots can be done by metabolizing local glucose and oxygen for energy
• Other sources of energy within the body can also be used to supply the necessary energy for the devices
• They will have simple onboard computers capable of performing around 1000 or fewer computations per second.
Nanorobots
• A navigational network may be installed in the body, which may provide high positional accuracy to all passing nanorobots
• This will enable the physician to keep track of the various devices in the body
“A microscopic machine roaming through the bloodstream, injecting or taking samples for identification and determining the concentrations of different compounds"
A single inhaled nanorobot reaches, deeply inspired into the lungs, enters an alveolar duct and attaches to the tissue surface.
Mechanical drilling of a small tumor mass by a nanorobot
Therapeutic Applications of Nanotechnology in Medicine
• Nanotechnology also theoretically allows the mimicking of natural biological processes e.g., repair of damaged tissues – Using nanotech to build scaffoldings of
artificial molecules that bone cells often adhere to and grow bones on
– Broken bones would heal much faster.• Transport of oxygen within the body by creating
an artificial red blood cell
Therapeutic Applications of Nanotechnology in Medicine
To cure skin diseases, a cream containing nanorobots may be used it may: - Remove the right amount of dead skin - Remove excess oils - Add missing oils - Apply the right amounts of natural moisturising compounds- Achieve the elusive goal of 'deep pore
cleaning' by actually reaching down into pores and cleaning them out.
Therapeutic Applications of Nanotechnology in Medicine
A mouthwash full of smart nanomachines could identify and destroy pathogenic bacteria while allowing the harmless flora of the mouth to flourish in a healthy ecosystem
Four remote-controlled nanorobots examine and clean the subocclusal surfaces of a patient's teeth, near the gumline.
Dental Robots
Therapeutic Applications of Nanotechnology in Medicine
Medical nanodevices could augment the immune system by finding and disabling unwanted bacteria and viruses.
A NANOROBOT NIBBLING ON AN ATHEROSCLEROTIC DEPOSIT IN A BLOOD VESSEL
“Stinger" nanorobot grabs a sick T lymphocyte and injects a glucocorticoid designed to induce cellular apoptosis.
NANOTECHNOLOGY
• GOALS• Construction of a nano-assembler
– A machine capable of building nanoprobes on a grand scale
• The next step would be self-replication of nanoprobes- mitosis
• Rough estimates say that this will be reached in about 10-20 years
NANOTECHNOLOGY
• PREDICTIONS• Predicting the future of nanotechnology is
much like trying to predict the remainder of a motion picture from a single frame
• Although the future of medicine lies unclear, it is certain that nanotechnology will have a significant impact
Thank you!...
Recommended