Nanomedicine: destination or journey?

Nanomedicine in a broad sense is the application of nano-scale technologies to the practice of medicine. The creation of nanodevices such as nanobots capable of performing therapeutic functions in vivo is a destination within the emerging field of nanomedicine. On the journey to that destination, significant technological advances across multiple scientific disciplines continue to be proposed, validated and commercialized. Advances in delivering therapy, miniaturization of analytical tools, improved computational and memory capabilities and developments in remote communications will be integrated allowing for the development of such nanobots. Nanomedicine is both a destination and a journey. The journey will cross new frontiers, uncover new knowledge and bring new horizons to the understanding and practice of medicine. 1. Background/introduction Nanotechnology has been defined as being ‘concerned with materials and systems whose structures and components exhibit novel and significantly improved physical, chemical and biological properties, phenomena and processes due to their nanoscale size’ (National Nanotechnology Initiative 2000). A nanometre (nm) is one billionth of a metre or one thousandth of a millimetre (mm). One of the unique characteristics of nanotechnology is that its success depends on the cross-fertilization and cooperation among several traditionally ‘stand-alone’ scientific disciplines. Nanotechnology is actively being pursued in many technical fields including aerospace, information management (computers), communications, electronics, materials sciences