Cancer cell suicide via DNA nanotechnology-based nanorobot
Foresight Update 25.04—April 6, 2012
ISSN 1078-9731
Discuss these news stories at http://foresight.org/nanodot.
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We recently noted the contribution of nanotechnology-based DNA sequencing methods to research and to the emerging field of personalized medicine. Another major step along this path was taken more recently by combining a mutated protein pore with a DNA polymerase molecular motor. …
Another example of current nanotechnology too cool to ignore is provided by a card-sized adhesive that can support up to 700 pounds on a glass surface, be easily released, and reused many times. …
A major advantage of nanoparticles used in nanomedicine is that they can combine and deliver together more than one therapeutic component. This capability has been brought to bear in the quest to encourage regenerative blood vessel growth after ischemic disease, which causes much cardiovascular morbidity. Delivering a growth factor in a nanoparticle containing a different biomolecule as a coreceptor achieves results where delivering the factor alone had failed. …
Nanomedicine will make major contributions to health care not only by providing new and improved therapies, but also by providing new diagnostic methods that will be faster and less expensive than currently available procedures. …
Christopher William Ince Jr. writes about the role of carbon nanotubes in providing superior materials for the wind energy industry:
A major problem plaguing the wind energy industry is the inability of current manufacturing materials used in wind turbine blades to keep up with increasing demand. …
In his famous visionary 1959 talk in which he described molecular machines building with atomic precision, Feynman suggested that if physicists wanted to help biologists, they should improve the electron microscope by a hundred times to see individual atoms. Many improvements have been made over the years, such as aberration-correcting electron lenses, but a recent contribution from the University of Sheffield has succeeded in showing for the first time that it is possible to recover the complex exit wave from a diffraction image at atomic resolution, over a wide field of view, and using low-energy electrons. …
DNA nanotechnology is not only a very promising path toward productive nanosystems and atomically precise manufacturing, but also a path to increasingly sophisticated DNA molecular machines for near-term drug delivery applications in nanomedicine. …
John Walker, a longtime friend to nanotech and Foresight, sends this news about a TEDxBerkeley video
Carl Bass, successor to the successor to the successor to me as CEO of Autodesk got up in front of an audience and spoke on "The Five New Rules of Innovation" among which was nanoscale and bio-inspired structures. …
—Nanodot posts by James Lewis and Christopher William Ince Jr.
Advancements in technologies such as nanotech, robotics, and biotech are promising to make major differences in our lives in the not-too-distant future, as the Industrial Revolution did to the agrarian world — to do for the physical world what the computer and Internet have done to the world of information.
Since 1986, the Foresight Institute has been in the forefront of a worldwide community of visionaries who work to help shape these possibilities into a positive, beneficial reality. If you would like to help us understand the potential of these technologies, and influence their direction, please consider becoming a member of the Foresight community. With your support, Foresight will continue to educate the general public on these technologies and what they will mean to our society.
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Events
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9th Annual Conference: Foundations of Nanoscience (FNANO12)
Self-Assembled Architectures and Devices
April 16-19, 2012
Snowbird, Utah USA
Foundations of Nanoscience is a yearly conference on foundations of nanoscience, maintaining the highest scientific standards. Self-assembly is the central theme of the conference.
Upcoming Events
UC Berkeley Nanoforum 2012
April 14, 2012
Berkeley, CA USA
The Nanoforum is the largest and longest running nanotechnology-related speaker event on the Berkeley campus and a great networking opportunity. It consists of presentations by top nanotech experts from both university and national laboratories, a poster presentation of projects from Berkeley's nanotech research, and other selected research. Registration is free.
Nanotech Conference & Expo, 2012
June 18-21, 2012
Santa Clara, CA USA
Join us in Santa Clara for the world's largest gathering of nanotechnology experts. In our 15th year, come network with over 4,000 participants and 300 exhibitors and be part of this incredible global innovation community.
The 6th International Symposium on Macro- and Supramolecular Architectures and Materials (MAM-12)
November 21-25, 2012
Coimbatore, India
Novel materials will play a key role in science and technology in the 21st century.
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