What are nanoscale biomedical devices?
Nanoscale devices are the same size as many important biological objects, and therefore can be used to “see” biological activity that the naked eye cannot. They can perform tasks inside the body that would otherwise not be possible. For example, nanoscale devices smaller than 50 nanometers can easily enter most cells, while those smaller than 20 nanometers can move through the walls of blood vessels. As a result, nanoscale devices can readily interact with molecules on both the cell surface and within the cell, often in ways that do not alter the behavior of those molecules. Nanoscale devices are smaller than human cells, which are 10,000 to 20,000 nanometers in diameter, and cellular components such as mitochondria that are inside cells. Nanoscale devices are similar in size to large biomolecules such as enzymes and receptors — hemoglobin, for example, is approximately five nanometers in diameter, while a cell’s wall is around six nanometers thick. Larger devices, such as microfluidi
