Nanomedicine and Nano-biotechnology
Is it possible that future visits to the doctor could be pain-free? Georgia Tech researchers are working to make your healthcare dreams into realities by harnessing the power of nanomaterials to create new technologies in the fields of nanomedicine and nano-biotechnology.
FACULTY
Meet Georgia Tech Faculty involved in Nanomedicine and Nano-biotechnology.
RESEARCH SPOTLIGHT
Dr. Gang Bao
Multidisciplinary healthcare initiative directed by Gang Bao awarded $11.3 NIH/NHLBI Grant. Read the full story.
Nanomedicine Companies
More than twenty inventions in nanotechnology have been developed in the last few years by researchers at Georgia Tech.
Nanomedicine and nano-biotechnology companies developed by Georgia Tech researchers include:
- Bioplex Corporation
- Orthonics
- CardioMEMS
- Vivonetics
Georgia Tech Professor Mark Allen, a participant in the Georgia Tech Microsystems Research Center and Packaging Research Center, is internationally known for his work with painless drug delivery via microneedles. Allen helped pioneer the use of tiny chips containing arrays of needles thinner than a strand of human hair that can be used for single-use injections or left on the skin for continuous release of a medication under the control of a microprocessor.
Like Allen, Walter H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Professor Gang Bao is working on making the world a healthier place one nanoparticle at a time. Along with Lily Yang of Emory University, Bao is developing a new method of detecting pancreatic cancer using nanoscience. Bao and Yang have already seen success. With the help of students, they designed a biosensor called a molecular beacon, which uses a single strand of DNA and a fluorescent dye to seek out cancer cells.
Another Georgia Tech researcher partnering with Emory University scientists to study nanotechnology aids for cancer detection, Walter H. Coulter Department of Biomedical Engineering Associate Professor Shuming Nie is testing the use of nanoparticles called quantum dots as a method to improve clinical diagnostic tests for the early detection of cancer. LaunchCyte Inc. spawned the Pittsburg-based Bioplex Corporation to commercialize Nie's quantum-dot method for healthcare applications such as drug discovery and clinical diagnostics, with help from the Atlanta-based Emtech Bio, a business incubator overseen by Georgia Tech and Emory University.
Researchers in Georgia Tech's School of Chemistry and Biochemistry are also using nanoscience for innovations in heathcare. Associate Professor L. Andrew Lyon has targeted damaging chemotherapy, working with Purdue University researchers to develop nanoparticles that target and trick cancer cells into absorbing them; the particles may soon be able to deliver a pharmaceutical payload, killing tumors from within and avoiding the destruction of healthy cells responsible for much of the damage caused by traditional chemotherapy. Professor Kenneth H. Sandhage combines genetics, biochemistry, cell culturing, and inorganic chemistry to create trillions of identical three-dimensional micro- and nanodevices that can be directly produced with tailored shapes, features, and chemistries for a host of applications.
