There is no doubt whatsoever that nanotechnology in medicine holds out significant promise since ill health and disease are primarily the result of damage at the molecular and cellular level. Here, current medical tools have little application simply because they are far too large to use in medical applications between 1 and 100 nanometers.
Nanotechnology in medicine offers us a method to economically construct a wide range of highly complex molecular machines, which are even smaller than a human cell but permit the accuracy, and precision of drug molecules. These tiny machines, that may even include molecular computers, will permit us to construct and utilize adequate numbers of computer controlled molecular machines. Having these tools available will finally permit medicine at the cellular and molecular level where they could be employed to kill cancer cells, remove blockages in veins and arteries or take over some bodily functions at sub-cellular levels.
Nanotechnology in medicine will also give us a cadre of brand new instruments with which we can examine tissue in incredible detail. Imagine, if you will, sensors so tiny that they could provide us with a clear look at the inner functions of a cell. Chemically fixed or flash-frozen tissue could then be precisely analyzed at the molecular level to provide a clear picture of cellular, sub-cellular and molecular actions as they take place.
The advanced capabilities of very-tiny machines, for example could give nanotechnology in medicine a tool to both identify and kill cancer cells. Such a devices would utilize a tiny computer and several binding sites to determine specific molecular concentrations and then selectively release a substance that would kill a cell determined to be cancerous. This devices could then circulate through the human body to sample its environment by discovering whether binding sites for cancerous cells are present or not. By comparison, out current monoclonal antibodies can only bind to one type of protein or antigen and have been ineffective with most cancers to date.
The device described above would be able to detect acoustic signals in the megahertz range, such as those now used in ultrasound imaging, and receive instructions safely. By triangulating several signal sources, this tiny cancer killer would be able to determine it’s exact location within the body and permit multiple pressure samples to be taken from a pressure sensor with a CPU operating in the gigahertz frequency range. Thus, if for example, it were being utilized to eliminate colon cancer, it would not release its lethal cancer-killing substance unless information told it that it was in fact, in the right location in the colon.
Another application of nanotechnology in medicine would be in correcting inadequate blood flow resulting from impaired circulation, which can result in significant tissue damage due to inadequate oxygen. And many other potential applications are now being considered.
Nanotechnology also has a prominent place in medical research, which is highly dependent upon science’s ability to develop a continually increasing understanding of living systems. Devices functioning at atomic and molecular size ranges would permit researchers to explore and analyze these systems in greater detail than imagined even a decade ago.