Nanomedicine is an emerging field that seeks to diagnose, treat, and prevent disease at the atomic and molecular levels.1 Nanotechnology, such as nanoparticles, is being studied and utilized to innovate healthcare. These nanoparticles can be exquisitely crafted to possess unique properties that have the potential to revolutionize drug delivery and offer more effective treatment options.2
The origins of nanotechnology can be found in a historical lecture called “There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom,” in 1959, where Richard Feynman put forth the idea of building objects from the smallest possible units: atoms.3 He was inspired by a wave of miniaturization around him, including “electric motors the size of a nail” on a finger and a device that could “write the Lord’s Prayer on the head of a pin.”4 Connecting this to biology, he noted how much information could be written in DNA molecules in such a small space with so few atoms. Using rough estimation, he concluded that all of the information in all the books in the world could be written using atoms in a cube “one two-hundredth of an inch wide,” barely big enough to be made out by the human eye.5
The key idea behind Feynman’s lecture was that there was plenty of room for advancement in our utilization of technology at the nano-scale. It took about twenty years for his idea to be revisited. Eric Drexler published a treatment on the promises and potentials of nanotechnology in 1986.6 He laid out a future where manufacturers could build products from the atomic level with precise molecular control. A biological example of this can already be seen in DNA and proteins, which work as construction machinery inside the cell to code for and build biological products.7
Nearly 40 years after Drexler’s treatment, the field of nanotechnology has significantly advanced, and medicine has benefited from these innovations. The development of nanoparticles offers exciting new opportunities for medical treatments. Nanoparticles can be created with different shapes and qualities depending on their intended use. This avoids the most common difficulties of conventional drug delivery mechanisms, such as the “stability of drugs, poor solubility, reduced absorption, bioavailability, and higher side effects.”8 Their small size makes nanoparticles well-suited for targeted treatment delivery and controlled release with minimal impact on neighboring healthy tissue.
The opportunities provided by nanomedicine go beyond improvements to current treatments. Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a growing threat to human health, with inadequate and inappropriate antibiotic use producing bacteria seemingly immune to treatment.9 These multi-drug resistant bacteria pose a significant danger to anyone they infect, and current antibacterial treatments are largely ineffective against them. Nanoparticles and other nanostructured materials could be used to convey antimicrobials and inhibit bacterial functions, and depending on how they are built, they may innately possess antimicrobial properties.10 More investment in nanomedicine research has the potential to produce new treatments for diseases previously considered immensely threatening or untreatable. Through continued research and advancements in crafting technology for such a small scale, nanomedicine will likely revolutionize how medicine is practiced.
Thank you for reading,
Ashby Glover
Sources:
1. Nanomedicine.” ScienceDirect. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/medicine-and-dentistry/nanomedicine
2. Arpit Mago, Muhammad Tahir, Muhammad Khan, Khabab Ahmed, and Muhammad Munir. “Nanomedicine: Advancement in healthcare.” Annals of Medicine and Surgery 79 (2022). doi: 10.1016/j.amsu.2022.104078
3. K. John Morrow Jr., Raj Bawa, and Chiming Wei.“Recent Advances in Basic and Clinical Nanomedicine.” Medical Clinics of North America 91, no.5 (September 2007): 805-843. doi: 10.1016/j.mcna.2007.05.009
4. Richard P. Feynman. “Plenty of Room at the Bottom.” Lecture, American Physical Society, Pasadena, TX, December 1959. https://web.pa.msu.edu/people/yang/RFeynman_plentySpace.pdf
5. Feynman, “Plenty of Room.”
6. Morrow, “Recent Advances.”
7. K. Eric Drexler, “Engines of Creation 2.0: The Coming Era of Nanotechnology.” WOWIO LLC, 2006. https://fennetic.net/pub/EnginesofCreation2_8803267.pdf
8. Mago, “Nanomedicine: Advancement.”
9. “Antimicrobial resistance.” World Health Organisation, 21 November 2023. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/antimicrobial-resistance
10. Pedro Baptista, Matthew McCusker, Andreia Carvalho, Daniela Ferreira, Niamh Mohan, Marta Martins, and Alexandra Fernandes. “Nano-Strategies to Fight Multidrug Resistant Bacteria — “A Battle of the Titans.” Frontiers in Microbiology 9 (2018). doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2018.01441
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