Nanotechnology Enabled In situ Sensors for Monitoring Health

Abstract

except for brief excerpts in connection with reviews or scholarly analysis. Use in connection with any form of information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed is forbidden. The use in this publication of trade names, trademarks, service marks, and similar terms, even if they are not identified as such, is not to be taken as an expression of opinion as to whether or not they are subject to proprietary rights. PrefaceNanotechnology is the use of materials with at least one direction less than 100 nm, so called nanomaterials. Examples of common nanomaterials include particles, fibers, tubes, coating features, etc. all with at least one dimension less than 100 nm. Nanotechnology has already begun to revolutionize numerous science and engineering fields, including, but not limited to fabricating faster and more light-weight computers, stronger buildings (even the consideration of building an elevator from the earth to the moon), improved catalytic devices, and medicine where several nanomaterials have been FDA approved for clinical use. In medicine, numerous researchers are searching for ways to make medicine more personal, and, nanotechnology may provide the answer. Imagine the day when we can utilize sensors placed in various parts throughout the body to determine, in real-time, biological events. Moreover, imagine a day when that same device can send information from inside to outside the body to help a clinician treat a medical problem that would be diagnosed using traditional medical imaging. Lastly, imagine a day when that same device could be programmed to reverse adverse biological events to ensure a healthier, more active patient. This book will examine the role that nanomaterials are playing in the above, specifically, in designing sensors that can diagnosis and treat diseases inside the body.To introduce the reader to this exciting and fast-moving subject, this book will first provide a forward from the medical device industry concerning the importance of developing in situ sensors to diagnosis and treat diseases in ways we are currently not able to (since, after all, the best way to a fight disease or a medical problem is at the site at which it occurs, not necessarily through conventional systemic drug delivery which takes time and efficacy is lost as drugs pass through the body partially ending up at the disease location). The first chapter will then describe fundamentals of cancer and how in situ sensors are being used to treat cancer. Clearly, cancer remains one of our foremost diseases and nanotechnology-derived sensors are making much progress towards a personalized care of select cancers. The second chapter will then cover the fundamentals of how our tissues heal and how nanosensors can be used to promote tissue healing. Excessive inflammation (often leading to scar tissue growth) and infection often disrupt healing. Thus, the third chapter will cover the fundamentals of inflammation and infection a...