The Significance of Biomimetic Membrane Nanobiotechnology to Biomedical Applications

Abstract

The application of nanotechnology principles and methodology to problems in biotechnology is providing an exciting discipline that will generate a revolution of novel applications in several arenas. Applications of nanotechnology range from novel nanosensors, to novel methods for sorting and delivering bioactive molecules, to novel drug-delivery systems. The philosophical approaches to finding solutions to those application areas historically have relied on engineering and the physical sciences to produce materials and processes that are then tested for efficacy in the biological environment. The difficulty in that approach is that it relies on an entirely empirical process in testing new materials or processes for compatibility in biological systems, and then subsequently for ultimate testing of the new material or process in humans. Whilst our intention with this book is not to denigrate the philosophy of that approach, nor to make claims that biological systems are completely predictable and thus able to be entirely modelled, the alternative approach that this book aims to address is that of nanobiotechnology. Put simply, the alternative that nanobiotechnology offers is to more closely utilise biological principles in guiding and influencing the materials and processes that are developed from engineering and the physical sciences for use in medical applications.At this point it is worth considering a forward-looking paper that was published in 2001. Prokop 1 made several pertinent statements that clearly embody the philosophy of nanobiotechnology. Those statements were made especially with regard to bioartificial organs which involve the design, modification, growth and maintenance of living tissues embedded in natural or synthetic scaffolds to enable them to perform complex biochemical functions. Those thoughts exemplify the essence of the nanobiotechnological approach that this book aims to convey. Prokop 1 thought that future research in the area of bioartificial organs would 1

Cooperative Interactions between Different Classes of Disordered Proteins Play a Functional Role in the Nuclear Pore Complex of Baker’s Yeast

“…The application of biomimetic membranes [47] has a wide variety of uses ranging from chemical and biological separation to purification [48]. Additionally these membranes provide a platform for the analytical detection of substances, drug delivery [49], as well as for self-contained reactors and mock cells [50, 51].…”

Molecular dynamics study on structual change in the surface membrane of an insonified coated microbubble

“…The molecular membrane of the coated microbubbles has the monolayer structure on the bubble surface. Molecules that construct the membrane are surfactant, so the surface tension of the coated microbubbles is relatively small [2]. Therefore, the coated microbubbles is stable in some solutions.…”

Physicochemical Properties of Hydrophobically Modified Polymeric Betaines and of Their Langmuir‐Blodgett Films

“…[16] This technology allows the formation of ordered layers of amphiphilic macromolecules on the surface of the liquid subphase and transferring of monolayers onto solid substrates. Despite the fact that the LB method is widely used to create a lipid-based membrane and protein compounds, [17,18] the researches on using of this method for forming of polybetaine monolayers and studying of their physicochemical properties, are restricted. For example, LB films of poly(N,Ndiallyl-N-octadecylamine-alt-maleic acid) as well as mixed films consisting of hydrophobic polyampholyte and two amphiphilic fluorophores À alkyl substituted rhodamine dyes À were prepared and investigated.…”