1. Nanotechnology and Medicine Marisoiu Marius Class XI A Colegiul National “Nicolae Titulescu”’ Pucioasa

2. 1. Nanoscience 2.Nanomedicine 3.Predictions Menu

3. 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 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 is a new field with many possible uses, medicine being one of them “The manufacturing technology of the 21 st 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 Menu

4. Most products of living organisms are constructed by tiny molecular machines, such as cells and organelles, working from the bottom up. By organizing individual atoms and molecules into particular configurations, these molecular machines are able to create works of astonishing complexity and size, such as the human being Using special bacterium-sized "assembler" devices, nanotechnology would permit on a programmable basis exact control of molecular structures that are not readily manipulated by natural molecular machines and molecular techniques presently available. With nanotechnology, atoms will be specifically placed and connected, all at very rapid rates, in a fashion similar to processes found in living organisms

5. Nanomedicine: Some medicines are made through biotechnological processes, for example those using recombinant DNA (human hepatitis vaccine) 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

6. “A single inhaled nanorobot reaches, deeply inspired into the lungs, enters an alveolar duct and attaches to the tissue surface.”

7. 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. 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 These nanorobots will be able to distinguish between different cell types by checking their surface antigens When the task of the nanorobots is accomplished, they can be retrieved by allowing them to exfuse themselves via the usual human excretory channels

8. “A microscopic machine roaming through the bloodstream, injecting or taking samples for identification and determining the concentrations of different compounds"

9. Therapeutic Applications of Nanotechnology in Medicine “Destruction of harmful eukaryotic organisms / cancer cells by interrupting their division process “ Cytotoxic T cell Cancer cell

10. “Mechanical drilling of a small tumor mass by a nanorobot.”

11. 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.