Nanotechnology is one of the most awaited technologies on the verge of exiting laboratories and entering commercial production. There is so much talk about nanotechnology that industries, ranging from cosmetics, Health care, And aerospace from automobiles, expecting major disruptions due to nanotech. In the race for nano supremacy, I see healthcare as one of the most lucrative spaces with various use cases that could have a profound effect on mankind. In fact, nanotechnology is the most radical and widespread emerging technology, and healthcare is its most urgent application.
Before we take a closer look at the use of nanotechnology in healthcare, let’s take a closer look at nanotechnology, its uses, and its market share. This will give us a clear perspective on this emerging technology and some crucial insights.
Nanotech is a multidisciplinary field of research that deals with the reconstruction and manipulation of objects at the molecular level in sizes ranging from 1 to 100 nanometers. The word ‘nano’ in Greek means ‘dwarf’ and nanotechnology is a very small science!
Let us understand what a nanometer is. To give you a better perspective, A virus is, on average, 40-100 nanometers in size! Isn’t it wonderful that we’re dealing with 1/100 of the size of a virus now? And these subatomic particles are making big waves today! We are building nanorobots, nanotubes, nanodots, nanoviruses and nanosheets that can be used with great precision for innovative and pathbreaking medical applications ranging from diagnostics to deliver medicine to disease-affected areas of the human body, something that has not yet happened. . So far actively pursued.
The place where nanotechnology meets healthcare is called space Nanomedicine. Industry experts predict that the nanomedicine market share will increase from $ 141Bn in 2020 to $ 260Bn in 2025.
While nanostructures are found naturally in soils, dust, oceans, plants and animals, scientists today are creating nanomaterials with new manipulation or engineered properties. This has huge potential and opens new doors in drug delivery systems, body scans, gene therapy, cancer cell identification and health monitoring.
Thanks for all the great scientist Richard Feynman Who introduced the concept of nanotechnology in 1959. He was also considered one of the best safe crackers in the world! You can read the book written by him, “Surely you are joking, Mr. Feynman!”.
Lexicon of nanotechnology
Before outlining the potential uses of nanotechnology in healthcare, getting acquainted with the basic terminology of nanotechnology will serve us well –
Nanometer (mμ): Nanometer is a unit of measurement which is 1 billionth of a meter. The smallest objects around us are measured in nanometers. To illustrate, the DNA molecule is about 2.5 mμ wide compared to the red blood cell which is about 7 mμ.
Nanoparticles (nanodots / quantum dots): These are tiny particles that are anywhere between 1 and 100 Nm. We all know that the smaller the material, the higher the surface area. This ensures that nanoparticles have different optical, physical and chemical properties and produce quantum effects.
Nanotubes: These are atom-thick-walled tubes and are tube-like structures composed primarily of carbon material. Nanotubes are a few nanometers wide, and can be up to a few millimeters in length. What makes them more attractive in the healthcare sector is that they are non-toxic and, therefore, safe to use.
Nanorobotics: Nanorobotics is the process of building robots on nanoscale and such robots are called nanobots. They are usually nanoelectromechanical systems that can be programmed to perform certain functions.
Cases of the most promising use of nanotechnology in healthcare
Industry experts believe that nanotechnology will play a key role in shaping the future of healthcare. Let’s take a look at some of its most compelling use cases that already show promising results –
Targeted Drug Delivery System: In today’s traditional drug delivery system, did you know that when you take medication for a headache, it probably goes all over your body, including the head, to relieve you? This also means that the drug delivery mechanism is inefficient, slow, requires more drug use than necessary and can affect non-targeted organs. Nanotechnology can carry drugs to specific cells and release them when they reach the target organ or area. For example, this can be a great way to reduce the side effects of chemotherapy.
Diagnosis: A biomarker is, in general, a measure, substance or chemical in the body that indicates a disease or condition. It has been observed that nanotechnology can bridge the gap between measurable biomarkers representing the physiology and clinical outcomes of biological processes. Compared to scanning the human body from the outside, nanoparticles inserted into the human can detect these biomarkers with extremely high efficiency, reducing the chances of drug failure / rejection.
Medical Imaging: Nanoparticles / quantum dots are so small that their surface area and volume ratios are relatively high, thus producing excellent contrast and fluorescence. In general, nanoparticles are like a glow-in-the-dark object, and its ability to reflect light will help us with biological labeling at the molecular level. Nanoparticles in medical devices and drug therapy can treat us with better diagnostic results and higher success rates.
Wound Healing: One of the main pain points in wound healing is contamination with microorganisms. Silver nanoparticles have antibacterial and anti-inflammatory properties that provide better wound healing efficacy with less bacterial resistance. It can be used as a scaffold for skin regeneration. Nanofibrous materials can also be used as distribution systems for drugs, proteins, growth factors, and other molecules. This will help us to deliver targeted medicine with minimal and effective use of drugs.
Needless to say, there is a lot of room for advancement in nanotechnology that has the potential to revolutionize and redesign the healthcare system despite existing barriers. Nanomedicine, nano pharmacology, nanoimaging and targeted drug delivery systems will make disease diagnosis and prevention, and care delivery more efficient and patient-centered.
Srinivas Iyengar, VP and Head of Health Care and Life Sciences, Happy mind.
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