Cancer and Nanotechnology

Currently, scientists are limited in their ability to turn promising molecular discoveries into cancer patient benefits. Nanotechnology —the science and engineering of controlling matter, at the molecular scale, to create devices with novel chemical, physical and/or biological properties— can provide technical control and tools to enable the development of new diagnostics, therapeutics, and preventions that keep pace with today’s explosion in knowledge.

Nanotechnology has the potential to radically change how we diagnose and treat cancer. Although scientists and engineers have only recently (ca. 1980's) developed the ability to industrialize technologies at this scale, there has been good progress in translating nano-based cancer therapies and diagnostics into the clinic and many more are in development.

Nanotechnology is the application of materials, functionalized structures, devices, or systems at the atomic, molecular, or macromolecular scales. At these length scales, approximately the 1-100 nanometer range as defined by the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) , unique and specific physical properties of matter exist, which can be readily manipulated for a desired application or effect. Furthermore, nanoscale structure can be used as individual entities or integrated into larger material components, systems, and architectures.

This emerging field involves scientists from many different disciplines, including physicists, chemists, engineers, information technologists, and material scientists, as well as biologists. Nanotechnology is being applied to almost every field imaginable, including electronics, magnetics, optics, information technology, materials development and biomedicine. Nanotechnology-based structures and devices are already enabling a large number of novel applications in various fields – including medicine.