0.7 21st century technology, digital displacement, and the role of  (Page 12/17)

Biotechnology and the bio-nano interface

Tomorrow’s biomedicine holds out the promise of benefits that were inconceivable a few decades ago. More than six decades have passed since Watson and Crick discovered the double helix in 1953. Since then, advances in genomics and related sciences and in information technology have transformed biology from a discipline centering upon the passive study of life to one allowing the active alteration of life, almost at will.

We have seen that the “wet” side of nanotech centers on the study of biological systems that exist in a water environment such as human cells. Almost monthly scientists are finding new applications for three groups of nano materials: Carbon 60 (the buckyball), nanotubes and graphenes.

The biomedical uses of Carbon 60, the first fullerene, stem from its special properties.

Nobel laureate Rick Smalley of Rice University called the fullerene “God’s molecule” because of its amazing and useful properties. Fullerenes are very, very small – about one nanometer wide. Second, their surfaces are thought to be particularly well suited for attaching therapeutic compounds. One promising anti-AIDS application capitalizes on three features of Carbon 60: very small size, its ability to carry chemicals to deliver drugs to specifically targeted sites, and its unique shape that facilitates binding with cells infected with HIV.

Graphene could lead to the development of major new advances in biomedicine it has been recently developed in a wide variety of shapes, sizes, ribbons, platelets etc. and chemical modifications. (Kostarelos and Novoselov, “Exploring the Interface of Graphene and Biology,” Science , April 18, 2014). However, important questions as to the interactions of graphenes with tissues, cells and proteins remained to be answered, especially since different forms of graphene can produce vastly different results when studied biologically. (Kostarelos and Novoselov, 2014).

Graphene, however, is not a fiber but is flat and therefore does not share the same health risks that may be associated with another nanoparticle, the carbon nanotube.

The increasingly ubiquitous carbon nanotube also holds out great promise in biomedicine, especially where they do not interact with living tissue. Nanowires made of nanotubes can be employed to detect infinitesimally small concentrations of pathogens. In California, nanotechnology is being used to sniff out infinitesimally small concentrations of protein leaking from cancer cells. A group of scientists in N.Y. in 2008 developed a virus-eating nanoparticle that could, among other things neutralize the virus in Avian flu.

Also promising are efforts underway at Rice and nearby M.D. Anderson Cancer Center involving other types of nanoparticles: gold nanoshells. These are biocompatible devices with a gold surface adhered to a silica core. At about 100 nanometers in diameter, they easily pass through the circulatory system. The optical properties of nanoshells may prove extremely useful in both diagnosis and treatment. They are treated with a fluorescent dye inserted into the body, and delivered to sites of individual tumors by virtue of antibodies attached to them. They are struck by a harmless near-infrared light and heated up to 55 centigrade, enough to destroy cancer cells, while leaving unharmed healthy cells.