An Illustration of the Use of Nanotechnology in the Medical Field

Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is currently an upcoming medical advancement that is being used more and more throughout the years. Nanotechnology is the practice of manipulating structures and molecules at a nanoscale. Nano is a unit prefix that means on billionth, so a nanometer is a billionth of a meter, which is applicable to nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is one of the newest advancements in the medical field where it gives the people who practice the ability to make changes that are seen as variations, at times drastic, in the chemical and physical properties of a material at the nanoscale compared to the bulk scale, where one can see, touch and feel a material (Lanka). Nanotechnology has been very popular in the last few years, and has brought up much controversy as well. Nanotechnology in the Medical Field has many different applications, but does have some different barriers that currently do implement of the advancement of Nanotechnology, but has overall benefits to everyone.

Nanotechnology in the Medical Field has been making very great developments throughout the years and currently does have a wide variety of uses. One use for nanotechnology that has been an ongoing battle would be the use of nanotechnology with the cancer treatment drugs is currently under development. This would make the drug delivery industry much more efficient. Currently there is tests being done that involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light, or other substances to specific types of cells, such as cancer cells. According to understandingnano.com, this type of treatment would be very beneficial to the patients because the particles are engineered to be specifically attracted to the diseased cells, which would in turn have the direct treatment on the targeted cells. This type of technique would benefit various types of patients because it reduces the damage of the healthy cells and allows the medical scientists to detect the disease much quicker. Nanotechnology would greatly benefit the ongoing battle this generation currently as with cancer, and nanotechnology has made researchers develop different types of applications to help the use of nanotechnology.

Scientists have currently made advancements and created different types of devices that would help nanotechnology grow. One example of this would be the development of “nanosponges”. Nanosponges have been used for a little while now and it’s the idea that these Nano particles are used to absorb toxins from the blood stream. “The nanosponges are polymer nanoparticles coated with a red blood cell membrane. The red blood cell membrane allows the nanosponges to travel freely in the bloodstream and attract the toxins (Nanotechnology in Medicine). This would benefit the users of this type of advancement because this is more efficient to remove toxins rather than medical doctors trying to do it themselves by hand. Other than the Nanosponges, there has been more and more use of the Nanobots.

Another type of device that arouse during the advancements of nanotechnology would be the Nanobots. In the article, Launch the Nanobots! Written by Larry Greenmeier, he helps explain the growing questions on Nanobots. Nanobots could be very beneficial because most drugs toady are currently able to float throughout the body in the bloodstream, this occurs by either being injected with the drug, or taking it as a pill where it gets absorbed in the bloodstream. Nanobots are self-guided machines that could deliver contain the drug and could easily and efficiently deliver the drug wherever it is needed. “Then, having achieved their mission, they will safely biodegrade, leaving little or no trace behind (Greenmeier).” The Nanobots are useful because it would speed up the process and make the certain drug get into your system faster and would take less time for it to take the effect on your body. The problem some people may have with Nanobots is they are unsure what they actually are. Nanobots are just make up of different types of DNA, and these devices are just make to act like a box where they open and are in effect for specific purposes (Greenmeier).