Nov 1, 2007: Industry estimates project a $1-trillion global nanotech market by 2015. According to some market research experts, 65 percent of global demand for nanobiotech products will come from the US. Even though nanotechnology has a long way to go there is a lot of hype about the benefits it will bring to the biomedical industry.
A number of researchers are working in the area, globally. Diagnosing and treating cancer is a major focus of many nanobiotechnology researchers. Cancer clinics already use nanotechnology such as liposomes that deliver treatment to specific tumor sites and DNA chips that make it easier to read large numbers of genes at a time for key diagnostic information. A tremendous value of nanotechnology applications to cancer treatment is development of the ability to dramatically reduce or to eliminate side effects by precisely targeting treatment to only diseased cells and leaving healthy cells alone.
However, nanotechnology still has a long way to go. When one talks about nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine, one means enhanced drug solubility—the ability of particles to cross biological lipid membranes to enter cells and cross the blood brain barrier. This comes at a price as the quantum dots in the nanoparticles pose potential health risks for humans. For example, it has been reported that water-soluble fullerene molecules (nanomaterials) can cause brain damage in largemouth bass. Similarly, dendrimers (another nanomaterial) have been shown to cause osmotic damage, activate the clotting and complement systems and rip off membranes. Moreover, nano particles composed of metals such as selenium, lead and cadmium can be toxic to organisms if these metals manage to leak out of the particles. In addition, it is believed that nanoscale materials neither act like particles nor like chemicals. The properties they possess could be anywhere in between (intermediate) or they could be totally unique.
There is a huge distance to cover before nanotech applications reach consumers at large in the biomedical sector. For now, what’s driving the market is—expectation of big leaps and the consequent paradigm shifts that are possible in human healthcare.
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FDA on nanotech
- The FDA is considering how it should regulate the products made with tiny particles measured by the nanometer, or billionth of a meter. By comparison, a human hair is about 80,000 nanometers across.
- Submicroscopic nanoparticles increasingly crop up in FDA-regulated products like sunscreens, glare-reducing eyeglass coatings and antimicrobial wound dressings.
- A federal task force recommended that FDA boost its understanding of the science and improve its now-limited ability to detect nanoparticles in both the body and the products it regulates.
- However, it doesn’t call for and doesn’t need additional regulatory authority, recommended the task force report, made public earlier this year.
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Nanoparticle-based bird flu vaccine adjuvant developed
Integrating nanotechnology and biotechnology has yielded positive results. US-based BioSante Pharmaceuticals has inferred new positive results demonstrating that its calcium phosphate (CaP) nanoparticle-based vaccine adjuvant, BioVant, may serve as an effective vaccine adjuvant for the development of a dose sparing vaccine against H5N1 avian flu, widely known as bird flu. Adjuvant is a substance that, when added to a vaccine, enhances the vaccine’s effectiveness by stimulating an immune system response.
The new results are based on a study using a hemagglutination inhibition assay (HAI), which showed the clear adjuvanting effect of BioVant. After a prime and one booster of BioVant-H5N1-combination-vaccine, the immune response in a rodent model was four-fold that of the H5N1 antigen alone. The study was done with 3 micrograms of H5N1 antigen in each vaccine dose. Earlier this year, the US Food and Drug Administration approved an H5N1 vaccine that uses 90 micrograms of H5N1 antigen by itself given in each of two doses.
Nanobiotech Segments
Drug Delivery:
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Bioavailability
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Sustained Release
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Targeted Delivery
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Targeted Release
Imaging Agents:
Biosensors:
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In vitro applications
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Basic research
Diagnostic applications:
GE leverages nanotech for medical imaging
 Do you think there is a lot of hype around nanotech and real applications in the medical field are far away?
Nanotechnology is the ultimate material science. A big reason nanotechnology creates so much hype is because of the vast potential that exists to discover new capabilities and properties in materials that we didn’t know were even possible. GE is focused on finding ways to leverage nanotechnology across our business portfolio from energy and aviation to health care and security.
In the medical field, GE is leveraging nanotechnology research to find ways to enhance our medical imaging capabilities. Specifically, the company’s research team is creating new materials at the nano scale to enhance Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI). The goal is to improve the quality of the image to help doctors see diseases at a much earlier stage and make better diagnosis.
GE and other companies also are exploring microfluidic applications. Some have yet to reach the nanoscale, but micron scale products are already on the market today, For example, products have been developed where micro-amounts of liquid samples are handled using microfluidics. They are used in biology research labs and also for lab-on-chip technologies, where the idea is that a sample and reagent can be mixed together on the chip itself.
Sensors is another area where nanotechnology is being explored. In the medical field, sensors are currently used inside medical devices (from lab equipment to imaging equipment) for monitoring and control. Opportunities exist through nanotechnology to enhance the capabilities of these sensors.
What kind of work on nanotechnology is on at the GE center?
The primary focus of the nanotechnology research program is to leverage the development of next generation materials at the nano scale to achieve completely new material performance levels for future GE products. As I mentioned, we’re looking for ways to leverage this technology across multiple business interests. In health care, the primary focus is on microfluidics and developing nanomaterials as contrast agents to enhance our medical imaging capabilities.
What applications are possible in the drug discovery or imaging space?
Applications can be in the form of sensors that are used inside larger equipment, lab-on-chips where the device itself is miniaturized.
In the imaging space, we see much potential in extracting more useful clinical and modeling data faster across many different medical modalities–such as CT (Computed tomography), PET (Positron emission tomography), MR (Magnetic Resonance) and Ultrasound.
An example of a technology that GE has developed for CT scanners is called Autobone, which allows clinicians the ability to create a 3-D image of a patient’s vascular structure free of any skull or bone obstruction. This allows the clinician to see exactly he or she needs to see to efficiently make an accurate diagnosis. The Autobone can also produce such an image in much less time, vastly improving a clinician’s workflow.
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