Biomedical nanotechnology is leading to major advances in molecular diagnostics, therapeutics, molecular biology and bioengineering,” according to Shuming Nie, professor of biomedical engineering at Emory University, who will highlight research in the field at the annual meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Seattle.

“Scientists have begun to develop functional nanoparticles that are linked to biological molecules such as peptides, proteins and DNA,” he said.

Nanoparticles can be engineered to have specific or multiple functions. In a process called “multiplexing,” bioconjugated quantum dots of different sizes can be embedded in tiny polymer beads and finely tuned to tag a multitude of proteins or genetic sequences.

Medical applications for namoparticles will focus on cancer, cardiovascular disease, and neurodegenerative diseases, such as Alzheimers, says Nie. For example, nanoprobes using quantum dots that are chemically bound to particular genes and proteins can rapidly analyze biopsy tissue from cancer patients to monitor the effectiveness of drug therapy, or be used as “smart bombs” to deliver controlled amounts of drugs into genetically classified tumor cells.

Emory University Health Sciences Center press release