Drug delivery is the method or process of administering a pharmaceutical compound to achieve a therapeutic effect in humans or animals. For the treatment of human diseases, nasal and pulmonary routes of drug delivery are gaining increasing importance. These routes provide promising alternatives to parenteral drug delivery particularly for peptide and protein therapeutics. For this purpose, several drug delivery systems have been formulated and are being investigated for nasal and pulmonary delivery. These include liposomes, proliposomes, microspheres, gels, prodrugs, cyclodextrins, among others. Nanoparticles composed of biodegradable polymers show assurance in fulfilling the stringent requirements placed on these delivery systems, such as ability to be transferred into an aerosol, stability against forces generated during aerosolization, biocompatibility, targeting of specific sites or cell populations in the lung, release of the drug in a predetermined manner, and degradation within an acceptable period of time.

PM10 and PM2.5 are being monitored for asssessment of human health exposure. Laser aerosol spectrometry (25-300 nm), Aerasense Nano Monitors (10-300 nm), Aerasense Nano Tracer (10-300 nm) could be used for qualitative and quantitative detection. There is a need to develop instrumentation and methods for a wide range of engineered nanomaterials that are smaller in size and in very low concentrations in aerial, terrestrial and aquatic environment.