Malaysian
Business, 11 Feb 2008
Nanotechnology – an
invisible giant
By Dr Brian O’keeffe & Wan Amir Jeffery Majid
Nature has developed “nanotechnologies” over
billions of years, employing enzymes catalysts to
organize, with exquisite precision, different kind
of atoms and molecules into complex microscopic
structures that make life possible. Many researchers
are trying very hard to emulate nature. The work
that researchers in the industrial, agriculture,
healthcare and ICT spheres are aimed at producing
and commercializing better optical fibres,
pesticides, drug delivery system, energy, paints and
surface coating, ect that would simply become better
overall products.
In the healthcare industry, nanotechnology is an
exciting and important enabler. The biological and
medical research communication are using
nanotechnology to produce nanoparticles,
nanomaterials and nanorobotics, to develop new
products and processes in drug discovery,
diagnostics and imaging, just to name a few. All
these uses are known as nanomedicine.
The impact of nanotechnology on fields such as
diagnostics, drug delivery and tissue engineering is
immense. Nanotechnology on a chip is creating great
interest. It is one more dimension of lab on a chip
technology.
In drug delivery the use of nanoparticles and
molecular carries enables to achieve solubility,
leading to better absorption. Drug may be contained
within a molecular carrier, either to protect them
from stomach acids or to control the release of the
drug to a specific targeted area, reducing the
likelihood of side effects. Such drugs are already
beginning pre-clinical or clinical trials, adhering
to the strict regulatory requirements for new
pharmaceuticals.
Targeted or personalized medicines reduce drug
consumption and treatment expenses resulting in an
overall societal by reducing the costs to the public
health system. Nanotechnology is also opening up new
opportunities in implantable delivery system, which
are often preferable to the use of inject able drug,
because the latter frequently display first order
kinetics.
Nanotechnology can also help to reproduce or to
repair damaged tissue. This so called “tissue
engineering” makes use of artificially stimulated
cell proliferation by using suitable nanomaterial
based scaffolds and growth factors. Tissue
engineering might replace today’s conventional
treatments for example organ transplants or
artificial implants. Such technologies can be used
to regulate in vitro cellular microenvironment to
direct stem cell differentiation.
As the nanomedicine industry continues to grow, it
is expected to have a significant impact on the
world from economic and societal well being
perspectives. From the applications such drug
delivery and in vivo imaging to the potential
machines of the future, advancements in nanomedicine
are being made every day. It will not belong for the
billon dollar industry to explode a hundred-fold
with current applications only the beginning.
Rise of Asia
Asian countries are investing significantly in
nanotechnology, and may already surpass the U.S in
this promising area of research. China has been
investing heavily in nanotechnology and already
leads the U.S in some key areas. For example,
Chinese scientists at Beijing’s Tsinghua University
announced that they have significantly increased the
rate at which carbon nanotubes can be produced. The
scientists say they have developed new approach
carbon nanotubes at 15 kilograms per hour, 60 times
faster than the speed at which US scientists had
been producing them.
Although there has been much hype about the
potential applications of nanotechnology, most
current commercialized applications are limited to
the use of “first generation” passive nanomaterials.
Further applications which require actual
manipulation or arrangement of nanoscale components
await further research.
However, the potential for nanotechnology to become
an important tool for the development of healthcare,
industrial and agricultural industries cannot be
denied. Progress in research is being made in many
quarters and the potential of nanotechnology being
the next IT wave is too high to be ignored.
Malaysian recognizes this fact, and the government
has, through the Malaysian Biotechnology
Corporation’s (BiotechCorp) technology acquisition
program, acquired the world-wide exclusive licensing
right to a non-cancer application of a nanoparticles
technology from a company based in France. With
access to this platform technology, Malaysian
researchers can now undertake research programs that
can be commercialized to produce product in 23
applications identified so far. This is a hugely
significant technology that, if utilized to its
maximum potential, has the ability to change the
landscape of Malaysia’s R&D for the better.
With nanotechnology; industries would be able to
produce innovative, better and valuable products for
healthcare, agriculture and industrial sectors.
Importantly, these products would be produced
cost-efficiently.
However, much of what is believe to be achievable
through the use of nanotechnology remains
speculative. But if nanotechnology, at maturity,
achieves even a fraction of its promise, its impact
and significance economies and markets cannot be
ignored. |
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