Nanotechnology in diagnostics and drug delivery

The current state of nanotechnology is comparable with the level of technological development in polymers and plastics in the 1930s. At that time, the polymer and plastic industry was in its nascent stage but the industry quickly grew, providing the materials for a large portion of manufactured goods. Nanotechnology industry is currently in an equivalent infant stage, but several basic breakthroughs have been made.(1) Based on the polymer and plastic analogy, the annual market for products that carry nano-components, including all computer chips, half of pharmaceuticals and half of chemical catalysts, will reach $1 trillion by 2015. Nanotechnology is thus expected to thoroughly affect the way science addresses medicine, food, electronics and the environment.(2) In this article I will take a cursory look at the basic concepts of nanotechnology, outline unique properties of certain nano-materials, and illustrate how these properties can be utilized to overcome current technological bottlenecks in disease detection systems for diagnostic purposes and in drug delivery systems for therapeutic purposes.