Nanostructured Materials for Biomedical Applications

Hindawi Publishing CorporationJournal of NanomaterialsVolume 2008, Article ID 529890, 2 pagesdoi:10.1155/2008/529890

EditorialNanostructured Materials for Biomedical Applications

Donglu Shi1, 2, 3 and Hongchen Gu3

1 Department of Chemical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Cincinnati,Cincinnati, OH 45221, USA

2 The Institute for Advanced Materials and Nano Biomedicine, Tongji University, Shanghai 200092, China3 Research Institute of Micro/Nano Science and Technology, Shanghai JiaoTong University, Shanghai 200240, China

Correspondence should be addressed to Donglu Shi, [email protected]

Received 9 September 2008; Accepted 9 September 2008

Copyright © 2008 D. Shi and H. Gu. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License,which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Current developments in nanostructured materials and nan-otechnology will have profound impact in many areas suchas energy technologies and biomedical applications. Theseinclude solar cells, energy storage, environmental control,tissue engineering, bioprobe, biomarking, cancer diagnosis,cancer therapy, and drug delivery. Many critical issues innanostructured materials, particularly their applications inbiomedicine must be addressed before clinical applications.Some of the key issues in biomedicine, deal with bioactivity,compatibility, toxicity, and nano-bio interfacial properties.In the biomedical applications, traditional materials scienceand engineering face new challenges in the synthesis andmicrostructure development since the requirements for gen-eral materials must be based on special medical needs. Themost fascinating development in nano-biomedicine is to befound in biomedical diagnosis and treatment, and involvesthe direct use of nanomaterials within a biological system.Today, in vivo imaging by fluorescent nanoparticles such asquantum dots is progressing rapidly; and cell targeting viasurface functionalized nanoparticles is undergoing animaltests and should be ava ilable within a few years. Localizeddrug delivery for tumor treatment by specially designednanoscale systems is also being tested. Up to now, inves-tigators have attempted to develop particular nanoscaledsystems with surface functionalized groups that are able toconjugate with a variety of biological molecules includingDNA, RNA, and viruses. These new technologies will alsohave significant potential in environmental monitoring,bio-probe, and quantitative virus detection. The challengefor future nano-biomedicine concerns how nanoparticlesinterface with biological systems with high biodegradabilityand minimum toxicity. We need to know how to design andsynthesize nanoscale structures for a variety of medical andbiological applications.

This special issue summarizes the most recent researchand development s in nanostructured materials and theirapplications in a variety of applications. The articles inthis issue address the critical problems in nanomateri-als synthesis, structure, and properties. The special issuedevotes several articles to various aspects of nanomate-rials and biomedical applications. Detailed experimentalprocedures are presented in conjunction with biomedicalconsiderations. Importantly, these articles give overviewsof nanoscience and technology and the basic informationrelevant to the synthesis of nanomaterials. As nanoscienceadvances rapidly, extensive research activities have beenemphasized on the design and development of new nano-materials. Due to special requirements in both engineeringand biomedicine, the materials developments have beendirected to solving key problems that are different from thoseof traditional materials. For instance, medical diagnosisrequires multifunctionality such that imaging and drugdelivery are preferred to take place at the same time.Therefore, novel nanomaterials and technologies are neededfor dealing with specific medical issues. Another critical issuedeals with the nano- and biointerfaces involving nanoparticlesurface functionalization. This is particularly important innano-biocomposites. Functional groups must be depositedon the nanoparticles surfaces in order to conjugate biologicalmolecules for purpose of targeting, virus detection, and drugdelivery.

We intend this special issue of Journal of Nanomaterialsto provide up-to-date information in the field of nanos-tructured materials and applications in nano-biomedince.The focus of the special issue is on the basic concepts andrecent developments in nanomaterials and related fields.This special issue covers a wide range of nanomaterialsresearch for a variety of applications including biomedicine.

2 Journal of Nanomaterials

Fundamental understanding of basic mechanisms on nanos-tructures and biomedical processes related to the uniquenanoscale properties of the materials will be the highlightof this special issue. All authors are prominent researchersand have extensive research experience in diverse fields ofmaterials and biomedical sciences. We are grateful to themfor these important contributions from which, we trust,many readers will benefit significantly.

Donglu ShiHongcheng Gu

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