Dr. Samuel I. Stupp, director of the Institute of BioNanotechnology in Medicine at Northwestern University and one of the scientists who are studying the combination of nanotechnology with biology in order to make the human body to heal itself, has achieved some amazing results first .
In an amazing demonstration of what nanotechnology can do for regenerative medicine, some laboratory rodents paralyzed by spinal cord injuries regained the ability to walk six weeks after a single injection of a purpose-designed nanomaterial. Stupp and his colleagues designed molecules with the ability to self-assemble into nanofibers once injected into the human body through a syringe.
“By injecting molecules designed to self-assemble to form nanostructures in the spinal cord tissue, we were able to quickly recover and restore damaged neurons,” said Dr. Stupp. “The nanofibers are key not only to prevent the formation of harmful scar tissue which inhibits spinal cord healing, but also to stimulate the regeneration of lost or damaged cells.
This work could also have implications for Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases in which brain cells stop working properly.
Stupp’s work fits into a key area of nanotechnology that could someday enable doctors to prepare and administer treatments to patients individually by means far beyond imagination.
Nanotechnology inspired by biological systems
Nanotechnology and in general, nanoscience are important areas of current knowledge. Among its many aspects have to highlight the growing interest in nanotechnology has reached inspired by biological systems.
This new branch of nanotechnology studies the properties of certain biological structures created by nature at the nanoscale. Inspired by these natural orderings scientists research and develop new artificial nanosystems with multiple applications in medicine.
Also, the simple virus can be considered sophisticated natural nanomachines. They are able to self-assemble, are endowed with extraordinary physical and chemical properties and perform complex biological functions. Appropriately modified viral particles engineered proteins can act as nanomachines designed for many biomedical applications as drug delivery in the body in a controlled and gradual.
Likewise, the nanorobots, consisting of protein complexes, act as molecular machines with an efficiency with which the machines designed for men only dream about. The new integrated Gliconanotecnología preparing biofunctional nanoparticles metal with many applications in nanomedicine.
To study the interactions and biological applications of these systems require the use of advanced analytical techniques such as electron microscopy and atomic force, biosensors, or magnetic resonance imaging.
