The growing number of elderly people, as well as the continuing overall growth in world population drives a strongly-growing demand for healthcare. The exploding costs of the healthcare system, the increasing demand and at the same time improving the quality of care, poses an insurmountable problem to the future of healthcare. Nanotechnology is an important gateway to the necessary radical change in the healthcare system.
The scientific and technological developments are such that the detection and treatment of diseases and hereditary conditions at a cellular level is coming within reach.
Biomolecular and (in)organic systems with new characteristics can be used for the imaging of a cell for example, or for the very specific local delivery of medication. The greatest opportunity lies in the development of new tools, materials and technologies which are already able to identify and characterise aberrations at an early stage. In the middle long term the molecular machines and intelligent, nanotechnology based tools will be introduced in the medical arsenal. This way doctors are given potential areas of application to treat illnesses and symptoms more effectively.
Theme coordinator
Prof. dr. J.W. (Hans) Hofstraat (Philips).
This theme contains the following programmes:
3A Nanoscale biomolecular interactions in disease
3B Nanofluidics for lab-on-a-chip
3C Molecular imaging
3D Drug delivery
3E Integrated microsystems for biosensing
Nanomedicine is about the application of nanotechnology in molecular biology and medicine. The scientific and technological developments are such that the detection and treatment of diseases and hereditary conditions at a cellular level is coming within reach. Biomolecular and (in)organic systems with new characteristics can be used for the imaging of a cell for example, or for the very specific local delivery of medication. The greatest opportunity lies in the development of new tools, materials and technologies which are already able to identify and characterise aberrations at an early stage. In the middle long term the molecular machines and intelligent, nanotechnology based tools will be introduced in the medical arsenal. This way doctors are given potential areas of application to treat illnesses and symptoms more effectively.
Contact at NanoNextNL Foundation for theme 3: Leon Gielgens
