Nanotechnology: Bringing The Healthfield To Another Level

Mar.16, 2010 in Technology and Gadgets

It’s a time where the lines between computer support and human support are changing. In Nassau County computer repair means people working on computers. In Suffolk County computer repair means people working on computers. But in the labs of esteemed universities studies are underway that would flip the relationship. Computer repair would mean vital body immune response would be done by miniature computers. Nanotechnology has evolved and it is poised to change everything. One of the major fields of change will be in medical technology.

Nanotechnology is the application of technology using miniscule materials. A nanometer is a unit of dimension. Nanotechnology useelements running between 1 and 100 nanometers. If you took 800,000 nanometers and laid them side by side it would be about the width of a hair. That’s small stuff. Being able to operate and manipulate elements on such a tiny scale holds great potential benefit in the medical arena. A great number of research institutions are engaged in exciting studies that could change the face of health care. Some advances are already occurring.

Currently there are many different studies using nanotechnology in a various methods. One application is in how nanotechnology can assist in diagnosing and treating cancer. One of the biggest drawbacks to cancer treatments such as chemotherapy, is that it can’t specifically target only cancer cells. Healthy and unhealthy cells are assaulted. With nanotechnology specific cells can be targeted. There are theories and trials that employee RNA strands that can locate and connect to cancer cells. Once attached these strands can release anti-cancer agents into the afflicted cells. Other studies have focused on creating a color coding system using nanotechnology that would create protein indicators that would find and link to cancer cells for easy identification. Another developing use nanotechnology in the fight against cancer is nanoshells. Nanoshells are made of tiny beads with various thicknesses made of gold. These shells are drawn to cancer cells, surround them and then are heated with near infrared light which destroys the cancer cells, but spares the nearby healthy cells not surrounded by nanoshells.

Nanodevices would be tiny enough to operate inside a cell. They would be so small that they would be able to engage proteins and DNA. Nanodevices could monitor the cell and detect disease using a smaller quantity of cell tissue. Changes in cell tissue indicating disease could be monitored and detected sooner. Because fighting cancer successfully depends on early detection, this would be a major advance in cancer fighting technology.

Nanotechnology is a rapidly developing area of science that utilizes a wide array of disciplines including; physics, chemistry, biology, engineering, and many other sciences including political and social science. With continual breakthroughs in all different fields, the advent of Nanotechnology will be fully upon us.