What is Nanomedicine?
Nanomedicine is the medical application of molecular nanotechnology (MNT) — a still-developing science dedicated to constructing microscopic biomechanical devices like nanomachines and nanorobots. These devices are so small they are measured in nanometers, or one millionths of a meter. Molecular Nanotechnology aims to manipulate atoms and molecules in a precise, controlled manner. Applied to medicine, nanorobots would be programmed for specific biological tasks and injected into the blood in solution to work at the cellular level to do everything from repairing tissue, to cleaning arteries, attacking cancer cells and viruses like AIDS, and even reversing the aging process. As fantastic as these claims sound, scientists believe we could see such advances within three decades. Virtually all disease, injury and wear to the body can be traced to the cellular level. Current medical technology does not provide a means for doctors to treat selective cells or “edit” disease from genetic code.
This course is the first in a number of short professional training modules in the field of nanomedicine being prepared jointly by the IoN, the acknowledged leaders in nanotechnology information in Europe and Cranfield University, the UKs leading postgraduate university and a leader in the provision of short professional courses. It has been designed to provide practising clinicians, researchers and industry specialists with a broad overview of the main topics, areas of research and issues within nanomedicine.
