Nanomedicine: application areas and development prospects

Nanotechnology, along with related concepts such as nanomaterials, nanostructures and nanoparticles, has become a priority area for scientific research and technological development. Nanotechnology, i.e., the creation and utilization of materials and devices at nanometer scale, already has multiple applications in electronics and other fields. However, the greatest expectations are for its application in biotechnology and health, with the direct impact these could have on the quality of health in future societies. The emerging discipline of nanomedicine brings nanotechnology and medicine together in order to develop novel therapies and improve existing treatments. In nanomedicine, atoms and molecules are manipulated to produce nanostructures of the same size as biomolecules for interaction with human cells. This procedure offers a range of new solutions for diagnoses and "smart" treatments by stimulating the body's own repair mechanisms. It will enhance the early diagnosis and treatment of diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and cardiovascular diseases. Preventive medicine may then become a reality.     

Advances in DNA Origami–Cell Interfaces

The nascent field of DNA nanotechnology has undergone rapid growth since its inception. By using DNA as a biologically “safe” material, DNA nanotechnology shows great promise in applications such as drug-delivery systems. Further progress, however, relies on understanding the different ways in which DNA nanostructures behave in and interact with cells, tissues and even whole organisms. Moreover, this knowledge must then be harnessed in innovative ways to improve existing DNA nanostructures and design new ones, so that they can perform more diverse functions more effectively. There have been many developments in this regard in the past few years, and herein some of these are highlighted, with respect to both works that improve our understanding of what happens to DNA nanostructures once they are at their target site, and those that utilise clever design to accomplish desired functions.     

Lipid Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is a multidisciplinary field that covers a vast and diverse array of devices and machines derived from engineering, physics, materials science, chemistry and biology. These devices have found applications in biomedical sciences, such as targeted drug delivery, bio-imaging, sensing and diagnosis of pathologies at early stages. In these applications, nano-devices typically interface with the plasma membrane of cells. On the other hand, naturally occurring nanostructures in biology have been a source of inspiration for new nanotechnological designs and hybrid nanostructures made of biological and non-biological, organic and inorganic building blocks. Lipids, with their amphiphilicity, diversity of head and tail chemistry, and antifouling properties that block nonspecific binding to lipid-coated surfaces, provide a powerful toolbox for nanotechnology. This review discusses the progress in the emerging field of lipid nanotechnology.     

Functionalized nanostructures with application in regenerative medicine

In the last decade, both regenerative medicine and nanotechnology have been broadly developed leading important advances in biomedical research as well as in clinical practice. The manipulation on the molecular level and the use of several functionalized nanoscaled materials has application in various fields of regenerative medicine including tissue engineering, cell therapy, diagnosis and drug and gene delivery. The themes covered in this review include nanoparticle systems for tracking transplanted stem cells, self-assembling peptides, nanoparticles for gene delivery into stem cells and biomimetic scaffolds useful for 2D and 3D tissue cell cultures, transplantation and clinical application.     

Biomimetic DNA Nanotechnology to Understand and Control Cellular Responses

At the cellular level, numerous nanocues guide the cells to adhere, interact, proliferate, differentiate, etc. Understanding and manipulating the cellular functions in vitro, necessitates the elucidation of these nanocues provided to the cells by the extracellular matrix (ECM), neighbouring cells or in the form of ligands. DNA nanotechnology is a biocompatible, flexible and a promising molecular level toolkit for mimicking cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions. In this review, we summarize various advances in cell-matrix, cell-cell and cell receptor-ligand interactions using DNA nanotechnology as a tool. We also provide a brief outlook on the current challenges and the future potentials of these DNA-based nanostructures so as to inspire novel innovations in the field.     

Targeted Delivery of Drugs and Genes Using Polymer Nanocarriers for Cancer Therapy

Cancer is one of the primary causes of worldwide human deaths. Most cancer patients receive chemotherapy and radiotherapy, but these treatments are usually only partially efficacious and lead to a variety of serious side effects. Therefore, it is necessary to develop new therapeutic strategies. The emergence of nanotechnology has had a profound impact on general clinical treatment. The application of nanotechnology has facilitated the development of nano-drug delivery systems (NDDSs) that are highly tumor selective and allow for the slow release of active anticancer drugs. In recent years, vehicles such as liposomes, dendrimers and polymer nanomaterials have been considered promising carriers for tumor-specific drug delivery, reducing toxicity and improving biocompatibility. Among them, polymer nanoparticles (NPs) are one of the most innovative methods of non-invasive drug delivery. Here, we review the application of polymer NPs in drug delivery, gene therapy, and early diagnostics for cancer therapy.     

Nanoinformatics: Emerging Databases and Available Tools

Nanotechnology has arisen as a key player in the field of nanomedicine. Although the use of engineered nanoparticles is rapidly increasing, safety assessment is also important for the beneficial use of new nanomaterials. Considering that the experimental assessment of new nanomaterials is costly and laborious, in silico approaches hold promise. Several major challenges in nanotechnology indicate a need for nanoinformatics. New database initiatives such as ISA-TAB-Nano, caNanoLab, and Nanomaterial Registry will help in data sharing and developing data standards, and, as the amount of nanomaterials data grows, will provide a way to develop methods and tools specific to the nanolevel. In this review, we describe emerging databases and tools that should aid in the progress of nanotechnology research.     

Stimuli‐Responsive Polymeric Nanoparticles for Nanomedicine

Nature continues to be the ultimate in nanotechnology, where polymeric nanometer‐scale architectures play a central role in biological systems. Inspired by the way nature forms functional supramolecular assemblies, researchers are trying to make nanostructures and to incorporate these into macrostructures as nature does. Recent advances and progress in nanoscience have demonstrated the great potential that nanomaterials have for applications in healthcare. In the realm of drug delivery, nanomaterials have been used in vivo to protect the drug entity in the systemic circulation, ensuring reproducible absorption of bioactive molecules that do not naturally penetrate biological barriers, restricting drug access to specific target sites. Several building blocks have been used in the formulation of nanoparticles. Thus, stability, drug release, and targeting can be tailored by surface modification. Herein the state of the art of stimuli‐responsive polymeric nanoparticles are reviewed. Such systems are able to control drug release by reacting to naturally occurring or external applied stimuli. Special attention is paid to the design and nanoparticle formulation of these so‐called smart drug‐delivery systems. Future strategies for further developments of a promising controlled drug delivery responsive system are also outlined.     

Solution-phase synthesis of metal and/or semiconductor homojunction/heterojunction nanomaterials

The design and architecture of programmable metal-semiconductor nanostructures with excellent optoelectronic properties from metal and semiconductor building blocks with nanoscale dimensions have been a key aim of material scientists due to their central roles in the fabrication of electronic, optical, and optoelectronic nanodevices. This review focuses on the latest advances in the solution-phase synthesis of metal and/or semiconductor homojunction/heterojunction nanomaterials. It begins with the simplest construction of metal/metal and semiconductor/semiconductor homojunctions, and then highlights the synthetic design of metal/metal and semiconductor/semiconductor heterojunction nanostructures with different building blocks. Special emphasis is placed on metal/semiconductor heterojunction nanomaterials, which are the most challenging and promising nanomaterials for future applications in optoelectronic nanodevices. Finally, this review concludes with personal perspectives on the directions for future research in this field.     

纳米科技的发展对卤化银技术进步的影响

纳米科技和纳米材料在过去的十几年得到了迅速的发展,并将继续发展并渗透到各个领域,给世界和人类生活带来不可估量的影响。“纳米技术”真的是一个新的概念？事实上,某些材料的制备和使用早已经涉及了这个长度范围,卤化银照相技术就是“老”的纳米技术之一,在早期,从事卤化银照相的人们凭经验和有限的能力控制材料的某些结构在纳米级范畴,随着纳米科学的发展,纳米技术在卤化银照相领域的使用走过了从无意识到有目的的过程,促进了照相科学的发展。本论文将结合卤化银技术在21世纪的发展趋势,从三个方面（在纳米级研究卤化银照相,卤化银微晶上的纳米结构,纳米卤化银微粒）探讨纳米科学对卤化银技术进步的影响。     

Aptamer-Functionalized Hybrid Nanostructures for Sensing,Drug Delivery,Catalysis and Mechanical Applications

Sequence-specific nucleic acids exhibiting selective recognition properties towards low-molecular-weight substrates and macromolecules (aptamers) find growing interest as functional biopolymers for analysis, medical applications such as imaging, drug delivery and even therapeutic agents, nanotechnology, material science and more. The present perspective article introduces a glossary of examples for diverse applications of aptamers mainly originated from our laboratory. These include the introduction of aptamer-functionalized nanomaterials such as graphene oxide, Ag nanoclusters and semiconductor quantum dots as functional hybrid nanomaterials for optical sensing of target analytes. The use of aptamer-functionalized DNA tetrahedra nanostructures for multiplex analysis and aptamer-loaded metal-organic framework nanoparticles acting as sense-and-treat are introduced. Aptamer-functionalized nano and microcarriers are presented as stimuli-responsive hybrid drug carriers for controlled and targeted drug release, including aptamer-functionalized SiO₂ nanoparticles, carbon dots, metal-organic frameworks and microcapsules. A further application of aptamers involves the conjugation of aptamers to catalytic units as a means to mimic enzyme functions “nucleoapzymes”. In addition, the formation and dissociation of aptamer-ligand complexes are applied to develop mechanical molecular devices and to switch nanostructures such as origami scaffolds. Finally, the article discusses future challenges in applying aptamers in material science, nanotechnology and catalysis.     

Chemical Approaches to DNA Nanotechnology

Due to its self‐assembling nature, DNA is undoubtedly an excellent molecule for the creation of various multidimensional nanostructures and the placement of functional molecules and materials. DNA molecules behave according to the programs of their sequences. Mixtures of numbers of DNA molecules can be placed precisely and organized into single structures to form nanoarchitectures. Once the appropriate sequences for the target nanostructure are established, the predesigned structure can be built up by self‐assembly of the designed DNA strands. DNA nanotechnology has already reached the stage at which the organization of desired functional molecules and nanomaterials can be programmed on a defined DNA scaffold. In this review, we will focus on DNA nanotechnology and describe the potential of synthetic chemistry to contribute to the further development of DNA nanomaterials.     

Viruses as self-assembled nanocontainers for encapsulation of functional cargoes

Viruses naturally exhibit an incredible variety of sophisticated nanostructures, which makes them ideal biological building blocks for nanoengineered material research. By mimicking their spontaneous assembly process, tremendous advances have been made towards utilizing virus and virus-like particles (VLPs) as protein cages, scaffolds, and templates for nanomaterials in the last few years. This review outlines recent progress in the field of bionanotechnology in which viruses are introduced to encapsulate various functional cargoes in a precise and controlled fashion. The encapsulation mechanisms are summarized into three main strategies: electrostatic interaction, chemical conjugation, and covalent attachment by genetic manipulation. The combination with chemical modification and genetic engineering heralds a brilliant future for fabrication of functional nanomaterials. These well-defined architectures will find attractive applications in biosensing, drug delivery, enzyme confinement, light-harvesting system, and pharmaceutical therapy.     

Water induced protonation of amine-terminated micelles for direct syntheses of ZnO quantum dots and their cytotoxicity towards cancer

This work designs a new strategy for the direct synthesis of different zinc oxide (ZnO) nanostructures at low temperatures. Micelles of dodecylamine (DDA) assembled in an ethanol-water system have been explored as a template to direct the growth of the ZnO nanostructures. The key species for the formation of the ZnO nanostructures, OH(-), can be provided by the water-induced protonation of DDA. The pH of the reaction micro-environment can be regulated by changing the input amount of water and DDA. By controlling the reaction temperature and pH, various ZnO nanostructures, i.e. quantum dots with green or yellow-green emissions, have been prepared. The relationship of the optical properties and the synthetic conditions has been further discussed. This strategy realizes the convenient preparation of ZnO QDs, indicating the potential prospects in the nanotechnology field for their low-cost synthesis. Meanwhile, the cellular toxicity study of ZnO nanoparticles toward cancer cells, including leukemia K562 and K562/A02 cells as well as HepG2 cells, indicates a selective cytotoxic effect of ZnO QDs against a broad range of human cancer cell lines.     

硫化锑纳米材料制备研究进展

近年来,半导体纳米材料硫化锑(Sb2S3)由于在太阳能、红外光谱、热电领域的广泛应用而引起人们极大的兴趣。到目前为止,已经有多种方法可用来合成不同形貌的Sb2S3纳米材料。综述了Sb2S3纳米材料的制备研究进展,并对其发展趋势进行了展望。     

纳米材料环境安全性研究进展

随着现代纳米技术在环境领域中的广泛应用,各种不同形式的纳米尺度物质对人类环境可能带来的潜在影响,逐渐引起相关领域研究工作者广泛关注。结合国内外最新文献报道,系统总结了目前有关纳米材料环境安全性研究方面的工作进展情况。     

Carbon nanostructures as nerve scaffolds for repairing large gaps in severed nerves

As the field of nerve tissue engineering advances, new biomaterials and structures are required to improve the regeneration of damaged nerves. Carbon nanostructures have been recognized as potential candidates to develop neural prostheses due to their one-dimensional nanostructures and similar nanoscale dimensions to neuritis as well as their unique electrical and mechanical properties when being used as a scaffold. This review addresses the promising application of carbon nanostructures in the repair of injured nerves. As a new viewpoint, the possibility of utilizing carbon nanostructures to repair a long gap in a severed nerve will be discussed as well.     

Advanced development in upstream of petroleum industry using nanotechnology

Nowadays, energy supply is one of the most important issues due to limitation of oil, gas and coal sources. Because of rapid population, civilization and energy consumption growth, the improved technologies to make optimal use of the sources, solving related problems and finding new energy sources are important. More than 10 years ago, nanotechnology as one of the most important technologies has also been applied to progress in the oil and gas industry (upstream, midstream and downstream). The experience of these years has shown that application of nanotechnology in the oil industry improves the exploration of crude oil and natural gas (underground or deep water), drilling and bringing the crude oil or raw natural gas to the surface, as well as transportation, storage, processing and purifying methods. Nanoparticles with high specific surface area, pore volume and small size show unique physical and chemical properties, which could be applied in several applications. In this regard, many researchers have been focused on various nanoparticles for upstream industries and studied their potential in oil exploration, drilling, production and enhanced oil recovery (EOR). Also, in downstream and midstream which involve refining of crude oil, processing and purifying of raw natural gas, transportation and storage of crude or refined petroleum products, the nanomaterials have been used to improve the quality of oil and make it appropriate for the environment. Lowering sulfur gasoline, enhancing the octane number and coating the transportation system are among the goals that have been achieved successfully using nanotechnology. In this work, various types of nanoparticles such as metallic, metal oxide, hybrid nanoparticles, carbon nanomaterials, nano-composites and their applications in oil upstream industry are reviewed. Also, their usage in different types of oil upstream processes is discussed.     

纳米技术在钻井液和储层保护中的应用

纳米技术已经对能源工业的技术进步做出了重大贡献.纳米技术有可能在钻井行业引入革命性的变化.纳米技术带来了许多具有特殊性能的纳米材料,其可以在增强泥饼质量,减少摩擦,保持井眼稳定性,保护储层和增强油和气回收中起重要作用.最近的研究表明,纳米材料在钻井液和储层保护领域中具有广泛地应用空间,其中在流体损失控制,井眼稳定性,井眼清洁,扭矩和阻力减小,井漏和储层保护尤为突出.综述了纳米技术在钻井液和储层保护中的应用,并评估了纳米材料在石油开发和生产过程中可能存在潜在的技术优势.     

Nanotechnology in glass materials (review)

The status of nanotechnology is briefly examined. It is noted that a quite large number of existing glass materials contain nanostructures and essentially are nanomaterials (nanocomposites). A classification of the nanostructures observed in glasses is given. The nanolevel structure of certain known glass materials is described, and their properties which are due to the presence of a nanophase are presented. Certain glass-based nanocomposites which are obtained today are identified and certain problems of directed synthesis of nanocomposites with a glassy matrix are elucidated.