Nano Technology
- Nanotechnology or nanotech in short is the technology that involves the manipulation of matter on atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scales, which is about 1 to 100 nanometers
Nano Technology in Health Care
- Nanotechnology — the science of the extremely small — holds enormous potential for healthcare, from delivering drugs more effectively, diagnosing diseases more rapidly and sensitively, and delivering vaccines via aerosols and patches.
New advances
- Useful in Diagnosis, prevention and Treatment.
- Nanotechnology will help in repairing damaged organs, diagnosis and treatment of cancer cells, and removal of obstruction in the brain and it can help in a better drug delivery system.
- Nanotechnology can be used to develop ”signature protein” to treat cancer.
- Nano filters are able to remove the smallest of known viruses.
- The antimicrobial coating is another promising area for preventing diseases.
- Nanotechnology can help design certain drugs that are very difficult to manufacture because of structural constraints by using a controlled manufacturing system at the atomic and molecular levels.
- Quantum dots: Nano-sized semiconductors that can be used as biosensors to find disease and which can be made to fluoresce.
- Fluorescent quantum dots can be tagged to antibodies that target cancerous cells or cells infected with tuberculosis (TB) or HIV
- Nanocapsules: These are pods that encapsulate drugs, which ensures the drugs are released more slowly and steadily in the body
- Buckyballs: spherical nanoparticles can carry more than one drug at a time.
Other Uses of Nanotechnology in Health Care:
- Nanotech detectors for heart attacks.
- Nanochips to check plaque in arteries.
- Nanocarriers for eye surgery, chemotherapy etc.
- Diabetic pads for regulating blood sugar levels.
- Nanoparticles for drug delivery to the brain for therapeutic treatment of neurological disorders.
- Nanosponges are polymer nanoparticles coated with a red blood cell membrane and can be used for absorbing toxins and removing them from the bloodstream.
- NanoFlares are used for the detection of cancer cells in the bloodstream.
- Nanopores are used in making DNA sequencing more efficient.