Nanodevices for the Life Sciences.

Works intended for this column should be sent direct to the Book-Review Editor, whose address appears in this issue. All reviews are also available from Crystallography Journals Online, supplemented where possible with direct links to the publisher's information. The potential impact of nanotechnology on the life sciences is one of the main motivations for the worldwide increase of government and private investment in this rapidly growing field of research and development. The early stages of such an activity involve the task of finding a realistic balance between expectations and possible results. If the new technology emerges by combining contributions from various sciences such as physics, chemistry, engineering, biology and medicine, an evaluation of the scientific potential as well as the time horizon of expected applications are bound to be uncertain. Therefore, even in the early stages it is helpful to discuss the various aspects of the new technology under a joint conceptual approach, as has been done in this volume by Challa Kumar, the editor of the famous series Nanotechnologies for Life Sciences. This volume presents a survey over the physical and chemical basics of nanodevices, their engineering and biological applications. It also provides a glimpse of nanoscale devices utilized by nature itself. The editor has brought together a group of experts to present the various aspects in 13 chapters. To provide a deeper understanding of the challenges connected with the development of nanodevices that can compete in their performance with natural structures, the first two chapters The Physics and Modeling of Biofunctionalized Nanoelectromechnical Systems (BioNEMS) and Mathematical and Computational Modeling: Towards the Development and Application of Nanodevices for Drug Delivery are very helpful. They are dedicated to theoretical modeling and computational simulations. Both sides of the development have been discussed – the fluid dynamics and mechanics at small scale as well as the interaction of nanodevices with biomolecules and living tissue. Thus, the chapters give a very informative introduction to the theory of BioNEMS. The main part of the book is devoted to the advances in developing tools for building nanodevices, and in the applications of such devices in various fields, such as biosensors, bioelectronics, drug delivery and photodynamic therapy. Under Nanolithography: Towards fabrication of Nanodevices for Life Sciences the advantages and limitations of various approaches such as bias-induced lithography, AFM-based force induced nanolithography, 'dip-pen' nanolithography, and latex particle lithography are summarized. Owing to its importance there is a …