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Karson Billings
March 18
Nanomedicine
Nanomedicine is the use of Nanotechnology in medicine to either treat
or cure a disease or illness. This can mean many different things from using
nanostructures as a delivery agent for a drug to having a nanomaterial
attack certain cells. Nanomedicine has its origin with Richard Feynman who,
in 1959 at Caltech said that one day people might swallow the surgeon.
However this technology didnt come into play in a large part until the
1990s. Since then Nanomedicine has become a multibillion dollar industry
with more than two hundred different nanomedicine products in clinical trials
and more than one hundred and fifty available for use. While Richard
Feynmans prediction was about tiny machines that could do amazing thing
like seal wounds Nanomedicine today is still equally and impressive.
The three main categories I will focus on will be: Chemistry, Biology
and Biotechnology.
Nanomedicine offers more precise and efficient means of treating a
patient. For instance in an article published by Science Magazine on March
14 explains how researchers have made nanoballs and filled them with a
drug called doxorubicin which is used in cancer treatment, it stops cancer
cells for multiplying. If the drug were to be directly injected into the blood
stream it would kill heart muscle cells and would cause heart failure.

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However these Bioengineers have taken the drug and used a nanostructure
for delivery to stop the metastases of the cancer. Furthermore the drug
wasnt just safer but more effective with the nanostructure because they
attached strings to the structures that allow them to burrow deeper into
the tumor to deliver the medicine. The trails done on mice with this new
method have been so successful that they plan to start clinical human trails
later this year.
In a PLoS ONE article it mentioned that there has been work done to
use Bionanofluid with carbon-nanotubes in them to produce heat at the site
that cancer is present to kill those cells. I bring this up to show that with
nanomedicines there are multiple ways in which to treat the same symptom.
Most times there are only a few ways in which drugs can treat a disease.
Block it, kill it, or boost the immune system to name a few but with
nanomedicine we have more options. When we introduce nanostructures to
the equation of drug delivery for example it goes from a chemical reaction
where we throw chemicals on the problem and hopes it fixes it, to specialized
delivery at certain times. It like throwing in the exact same chemicals but
this time they have a strategy.
These methods are dramatically more efficient than swallowing a pill
having it dissolve. Now we can have medicine that delivers a drug to the
right spot and release it at the right time. Its a lot like the difference
between carpet bombs and a smart bomb, both do damage but only one is
precise and doesnt cause unnecessary harm elsewhere. The nanomedicine

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field is still a relatively new one but what has been done has been very
promising and continues to grab attention and funding.
More can be done than just deliver a drug to predestined position, like
gene therapy. In Respiratory Research by Biomed Central the author talks
about loading nanostructures with DNA to aid with gene therapy to help with
diseases like Cystic Fibrosis. Nanotechnology could be used in the future to
replace missing or damaged cells which could have many applications. One
of the most exciting things nanomedicine could be the ability to repair spinal
cord injuries. Those who have been paralyzed from a car accident or
shooting or whatever else would now have the opportunity to walk and
experience life in full again. Thats a feat that really has no equal in
contemporary medicine. What this means is that we are seeing the rise of a
type of treatment that can cure things that previously werent curable and
its only getting started.
Another group of people that nanomedicine could help are stroke
victims. We could repair damaged nerves and cells, use nanomedicine to
help breakdown and open up clogged arteries. Because nanomedicines have
the ability to help repair damaged cells it could also be used for cuts, burns
and broken bones.
Different Nanomedicines are being to treat things like pulmonary
fibrosis, tuberculosis and even HIV. Recently in a PLoS ONE article I read
about how scientists used dendrimers in blood infected with HIV. The

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dendrimers were able to work with the T (treg) cells from being infected with
HIV. The T cells are important to the bodys immune system and is crucial in
fighting disease. Nanomedicine will be the medicine of the future for all of
the benefits it has and the broad range of applications that it can be used for.
It makes it an attractive field to study and invest in because of all the
practical uses that will come from it. It is the reason many pharmaceutical
companies are investing in it, to make a cheap effective drug, with a high
probability of success would be a worthwhile and valuable use of their time
and money.
The benefits that nanomedicine brings to humanity would be
enormous. From the treatment of diseases to the treatment of disabilities its
use in modern medicine will be wide and far sweeping. With so many deadly
diseases that could be treated with Nanomedicine that would have otherwise
claimed lives we would see an increase to human longevity, we would see a
decrease in the cost of medicine as these medicines become mass produced
and more effective so that you dont have to take as many doses. The
technology could save us money and heartache.
Nanomedicine is now being researched for its use in regenerative
medicine. It can be used as a sort of scaffolding/adhesive to give cells
something to bond to. This would help things like broken bones heal faster
and with fewer defects. Another way they can be used in regenerative
medicine is that these nanostructures can mimic a bodys natural structures.
Why get a fake hip when we can use nanomedicine to help repair or regrow

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yours? Have an original part of you versus a fake or transplanted piece runs
down the risk of complications and especially rejection. Plus who wants to
get surgery done when they can just regrow certain bits or repair them. Knee
surgery or regrow the cartilage? Root canal or regrow the enamel on your
teeth. It opens up a world of new treatments without the need for expensive
surgeries.
With more research into this were are discovering how the body reacts
to certain chemicals and in return weve expanded our understanding of the
human body. The more we learn about the human body the better we can
treat it and improve it. Nanomedicine is the next step in medicine and
healthcare. The nanomedicine industry is underway and growing and
promises to revolutionize the way we treat disease. With over one hundred
and fifty different nanomedicines under development its bound to make a
huge difference for people.
Its not only diseases that nanomedicine can fight but also parasites.
Different nanomedicines can act as white blood cells and target the parasite
or deliver poison to it. All of these are effective ways to deal with parasites
and with nanomedicines they will be even more efficient.
Richard Feynman believed that nanomedicine would include nanobots.
These microscopic robots would be ever-present in your body and constantly
healing any injury, fighting any disease and repairing any damage.
Technology hasnt gotten to that point but it could decades from now. In fifty

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years from now nanotechnology could become so advanced that we all have
small robots in us acting as doctors to fix our health issues. Technology
always moves to make makes things smaller. Cheaper and more efficient. Its
doing that very same thing with medicine. Making it smaller, cheaper and
more accessible to everyone.
Because of its potential I am excited to see where this new technology
will go and what it will do next. I think this is one of the most important
things to happen to medicine in a long time and I believe it has the potential
to do a lot of good for the world and help improve a lot of peoples lives and
not to mention give them hope that one day they will be healthy.

Work Cited
Source1: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
vid=6&sid=e561a34c-cbee-4e31-9ced-

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844802198fc8%40sessionmgr198&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl
2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=50819223&db=aph
Source2: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
sid=e060985b-6288-4259-be818f1ce4a7ded7%40sessionmgr114&vid=0&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc
3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=112349080&db=aph
Source3: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
sid=1c1a24d5-cdd9-4a4d-b833-18cc84288bed
%40sessionmgr102&vid=0&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ
%3d%3d#AN=108276389&db=aph
Source4: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
sid=74fe2c45-945c-4aea-9744e320229adfd1%40sessionmgr114&vid=0&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhv
c3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d&preview=false#AN=113218506&db=aph
Source5: http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/03/nano-balls-filled-poisonwipe-out-metastatic-cancer-mice
Source6: http://web.b.ebscohost.com.libprox1.slcc.edu/ehost/detail/detail?
sid=8afdd1ad-8145-4762-b25b57382e3e5423%40sessionmgr110&vid=0&hid=116&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhv
c3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN=112893623&db=aph

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