Nanomedicine: Tiny technology becomes a big topic

Some of medicine's tools are about to get infinitesimally small, but the impact is expected to be enormous.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. July 10, 2006.

When it comes to innovative disease prevention, diagnosis and treatment, the smallest of the small are increasingly driving the development process.

Researchers are working on minuscule therapeutics they hope will intervene before illness develops, nanoparticles that will carry medication directly to diseased cells without affecting healthy ones and imaging technology that will see imperfections at the molecular level.

It's all part of the nanotechnology revolution. It already has reached into many industries and is finding its role in health care. At the moment, the number of nanomedical tools actually in the hands of physicians might not be large, but it is expected to grow exponentially over the next few years.

"It's one of the most exciting frontiers of medicine right now," said Marsha Rappley, MD, professor of pediatrics and human development at Michigan State University. She gave the welcome address at her institution's nanomedicine conference in April. "It will give my patients and give me, as a primary care physician, a wider array of options for treatment of serious illness."

The activity surrounding this new frontier is indicative of the potential many perceive. Publishers have launched a half-dozen medical journals on the subject. Doctors in this field have formed the American Academy of Nanomedicine. The National Institutes of Health has provided funding to several universities to create nanomedicine institutes. And the American Medical Association even featured an educational session on the subject at its Annual Meeting in June.