Nanotechnology involves the creation and use of materials and devices at the level of molecules and atoms. Nanomedicine, an offshoot of nanotechnology, refers to highly specific medical intervention at the molecular scale for curing disease or repairing damaged tissues, such as bone, muscle, or nerve. A nanometer is one- billionth of a meter, too small to be seen with a conventional lab microscope. It is at this size scale – about 100 nanometers or less – that biological molecules and structures inside living cells operate. NIH Nanomedicine Roadmap Definitions (

Nanomedicine As used by the NIH Nanoscience Roadmap Working Group, nanomedicine describes the interface of biology with nanotechnology and nanoscience to understand and treat disease. NIH has not re-classified most of its basic research portfolio as nanotechnology – only those studies that: use nanotechnological tools and concepts to study biology; propose to engineer biological molecules towards functions different from what they have in nature; Manipulate biological systems by methods more precise than can be done by molecular biology or synthetic chemistry.

NIH Nanomedicine Roadmap Definitions ( NIH Roadmap: nihroadmap.nih.gov Nanomedicine Grants and Funding Opportunities: Dr. Richard S. Fisher, National Eye Institute, Dr. Thomas Aigner, National Institute on Drug Abuse,

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Supported Research/Areas of Interest: 1.Drug Design and Development: James Talton – Nanotherapeutics - “Oral Buprenorphine Nanoparticle Formulation” Submitted in response to: SBIR Contract Solicitation: “Nanoscience-based Design of Therapies for Substance Abuse Treatment” (N )

Oral Buprenorphine Plasma Concentrations in Awake Rats

National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) Supported Research: 2. Drug Delivery: Bruce Hinds – University of Kentucky – “Gated Carbon Nanotube Membrane Transdermal Drug Delivery” 1R01DA A2 Submitted in response to: Nanoscience and Nanotechnology in Biology and Medicine (R01) – PA