Nanotechnology and Nano Medicine

Nanomedicine seeks to deliver a valuable set of research tools and clinically useful devices in the near future. The National Nanotechnology Initiative expects new commercial applications in the pharmaceutical industry that may include advanced drug delivery systems, new therapies, and in vivo imaging. Nanomedicine research is receiving funding from the US National Institutes of Health Common Fund program, supporting four nanomedicine development centers. Nanomedicine sales reached $16 billion in 2015, with a minimum of $3.8 billion in nanotechnology R&D being invested every year. Global funding for emerging nanotechnology increased by 45% per year in recent years, with product sales exceeding $1 trillion in 2013. As the nanomedicine industry continues to grow, it is expected to have a significant impact on the economy.

Nano biotechnology is the application of nanotechnologies in biological fields. Chemists, physicists and biologist each view nanotechnology as a branch of their own subject and collaborations in which they each contribute equally are common. One result is the hybrid field of Nano biotechnology that uses biological starting materials, biological design principles or has biological or medical applications. The integration of nanomaterials with biology has led to the development of diagnostic devices, contrast agents, analytical tools, therapy, and drug-delivery vehicles, bio nanotechnology research is still in its infancy.

Nano electronics is the term used in the field of nanotechnology for electronic components and research on improvements of electronics such as display, size, and power consumption of the device for the practical use. This includes research on memory chips and surface physical modifications on the electronic devices. Nano electronics cover quantum mechanical properties of the hybrid material, semiconductor, single dimensional nanotubes, nanowires, and so forth. Well-developed Nano electronics can be applied in different fields, and are especially useful for detecting disease-causing agents and disease biomarkers. As a consequence, point-of-care detection became popularized due to the involvement of Nano electronics. In this chapter, we discuss documented bio sensing applications of Nano electronics.

A nanoparticle or ultrafine particle is usually defined as a particle of matter that is between 1 and 100 nanometers (nm) in diameter. The term is sometimes used for larger particles, up to 500 nm, or fibers and tubes that are less than 100 nm in only two directions. At the lowest range, metal particles smaller than 1 nm are usually called atom clusters instead. Nanoparticles are usually distinguished from micro particles (1-1000 µm), "fine particles" (sized between 100 and 2500 nm), and "coarse particles" (ranging from 2500 to 10,000 nm), because their smaller size drives very different physical or chemical properties, like colloidal properties and ultrafast optical effects or electric properties.