Biology is the only known phenomenon which uses molecular nanotechnology – the manipulation of matter locally and deliberately on the atomic or molecular scale. It follows then that biological conditions and diseases must originate from alterations in these nanoscale processes. Mutated genes, misfolded proteins and infections caused by nanoscale viruses and pathogens can lead to cell malfunction or miscommunication, eventually leading to life-threatening diseases. The nascent field of nanomedicine has attempted to treat these systems by interacting with them at their native scale using engineered materials and systems with features in the nanoscale range (0.1-100 nm). In this Review, we highlight the uses of nanomedicine in the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease, as well elucidate a common mechanism of action used by many nanomedicine technologies. The incredibly high surface to volume ratio of nanoscale materials allows multivalent presentation of biologically functional molecules. This leads to high local concentration and the enhanced rates of reaction essential for biological processes. Here we show that optimizing this enhancement effect using fundamental principles of statistical mechanics is achievable. The application of this framework to engineering nanomedicine technologies is also presented.
Read MoreSide-stepping Biology with Creative Chemistry
It was Darwin who first taught us that evolution meant survival of the fittest. Darwin’s battle has been fought for billions of years and the survivors are intricate and well-honed biological machines, perfectly fit to their respective ecological niches, and armed to the teeth with the physical and chemical weaponry that got them this far. In this tapestry of life, humanity is no different. In every human body is a constant battle repelling the microorganisms and environmental toxins being inhaled with every breath. Our defenses are formidable. A standing guard of defensive combatants numbering in the trillions rapidly attacks any foreign agents that enter the body. Some combatants are designed to flag invaders as foreigners, others to rip the targets apart with tiny molecular scissors. Still others are charged with preserving the sanctum sanctorum of any living organism—the genetic material. These single-minded scribes read and re-read our genetic blueprints to make sure no foreign instructions have penetrated our defenses. As a result, the body is not a hospitable place for foreign biological material. It is this feature that prevents the vast majority of bacterial and viral invaders from wreaking havoc on our bodies and constantly snuffs out potential cancers when they are little more than mistakes in a copy of our genetic instructions. Yet, this same biological xenophobia is now standing in the way of science and medicine.
Read MoreYou are star-stuff, but you can't eat photons.
“Some part of our being knows this is where we came from. We long to return. And we can. Because the cosmos is also within us. We're made of star-stuff.” – Carl Sagan, “Cosmos”
"Surely that isn't the end of your quote, Professor Sagan? There's a bit more to explain." – Blake Farrow, "Coffee Nanoparticles"
Read MoreVision
Messier 81, also known as Bode’s Galaxy, is a spiral galaxy much like our own Milky Way. It is relatively nearby on an intergalactic scale (only a scant 12 million light years away!), and lies in the constellation Ursa Major, which includes the Big Dipper. This massive cloud consists of hundreds of billions of burning stars, each as bright as our sun, and each sending only the tinniest fraction (1 over 10 followed by 50 zeroes) of their luminous output all the way to Earth. In fact, the combined output of these billions of stars only manages to get about a dozen photons* per second into your eye when you look up at the northern sky. But on an exceptionally clear night, if you let your eyes adjust to the darkness, you can just see Messier 81 floating in the bowl of the Big Dipper.
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