Nano-fabricated Materials in Cancer Treatment and Agri-biotech Applications: Buckyballs in Quantum Holy Grails

Abstract

in I Arunava_Goswami@brown.edu [A. G.] I sujit@isical.ac.in [S.A.]New ideas in the development of the intelligent nanomaterials miniaturized at the nanometer sizes gained substantial interest because of the wide range of their technological purposes. The recognition of the ultimate limits of computation has also lead computer scientists to seek inspiration from nanobiology. Because living organisms function with nanoscale buildings blocks and exploit collective quantum effects and thermal energy. This is necessary for the survival in its "living" thermodynamic status. The hope to break the barrier of miniaturization seems to lie in the knowledge of the self-organization mechanism of living objects. Furthermore, knowledge about the mesoscopic scale might be able to explain the self-assembly and the working regime of the simplest organisms created by nature. In solid-state physics and electronics, a large variety of different non-equilibrium phenomena accompany with the spontaneous self-assembly of the spatial and the spatio-temporal patterns in the nano-size objects. First, we present a recent update of the different nanomaterials experimentally or commercially produced which have been successfully applied in complex biological systems. Finally, we give examples of our pioneering research on 'cancer' and 'agricultural biotechnology' to provide readers better vistas about the enormous growth potential of nanotechnology in coming years. We have developed an international nanosilica network to do research on cancer biology and agricultural biotechnology. Surface modified hydrophobic and lipophilic nanosilica developed by us has already attracted huge investments in different parts of the globe. We also propose a nanoparticle assisted cybernetic approach, which could be used for early cancer detection in future.

Nanosilica—from medicine to pest control

“…In particular, controlling human malarial parasite growth both in vitro and in vivo might be possible (Sharma et al 1996;Panteghini et al 2001;Majumder et al 2006Majumder et al , 2007Ulrichs et al 2007). Malaria and other parasites, including virus, often induce an increase in host lipids which the invaders use to their own advantage.…”

Chitosan-Coated Iron Oxide Nanoparticles for Molecular Imaging and Drug Delivery

“…Over the years, many approaches have been evaluated for the synthesis of IONP cores [21]. These approaches can be generally divided into two groups: top-down (mechanical attrition) and bottom-up (chemical synthesis) approaches [22]. Of the two routes, the chemical synthesis approach is generally favored as it is better suited to production of nanoparticles with uniform size and shape (typical deviation is less than 10% of the nanoparticle batch) [23].…”

Surface ligands in synthesis, modification, assembly and biomedical applications of nanoparticles

“…Generally, there are two different strategies for the synthesis of nanoparticles: top-down and bottom-up [23,24]. The top-down method involves the mechanical fragmentation of bulk materials into nano-sized debris.…”