Nanomedicine

Frank Caruso

Frank Caruso is a professor and Australian Research Council Federation Fellow at The University of Melbourne. He received his PhD degree in 1994 from The University of Melbourne, and then moved to the CSIRO Division of Chemicals and Polymers in Melbourne. He was an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow and then group leader at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces (Berlin, Germany) from 1997–2002. His research interests focus on developing advanced nano- and biomaterials for biotechnology and medicine. He has published over 280 peer-reviewed papers and is on the ISI’s most highly cited list, ranking top 20 worldwide in materials science in 2011. He is an Editor of Chemistry of Materials and is on the Editorial Advisory Boards of Advanced Functional Materials, Advanced Healthcare Materials, Nano Today and Advances in Colloid and Interface Science. He was elected a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science in 2009.

Taeghwan Hyeon

Taeghwan Hyeon received his BS (1987) and MS (1989) in Chemistry from the Seoul National University, Korea. He obtained his PhD in Chemistry from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (1996). Since he joined the faculty of the School of Chemical and Biological Engineering of Seoul National University in September 1997, he has been focused on the synthesis and applications of uniform-sized nanoparticles and nanoporous materials, and has published more than 160 papers in prominent international journals. In 2010 he was appointed as the first “SNU Distinguished Fellow” (University Distinguished Professor) of the Seoul National University. He has received many awards including the Korean Young Scientist Award from the Korean President (2002), DuPont Science and Technology Award (2005), and POSCO-T. J. Park Award (2008). Since September 2010, he has served as an Associate Editor of Journal of the American Chemical Society. He is currently serving as editorial (advisory) board member of Advanced Materials (Wiley-VCH), Nanoscale (RSC), Nano Today (Elsevier), and Small (Wiley-VCH).

Vincent M. Rotello

Vincent Rotello is the Charles A. Goessmann Professor of Chemistry at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, with an appointment in the Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology. He has been the recipient of the NSF CAREER and Cottrell Scholar awards, as well as the Camille Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar, the Sloan Fellowships, and the Langmuir Lectureship, and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and of the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK). He is currently an Executive Editor for Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews and Associate Editor for North America for the Journal of Materials Chemistry, and is on the Editorial Board of nine other journals. His research program focuses on using synthetic organic chemistry to engineer the interface between hard and soft materials, and spans the areas of devices, polymers, and nanotechnology/bionanotechnology, with over 325 papers published to date. In the field of biotechnology, he is involved in the development of new delivery vehicles for proteins, nucleic acids, and small molecules as well as the development of new sensors for proteins and cell surfaces.

Nanomedicine is one of the fastest growing areas in nanotechnology and is poised to revolutionise healthcare and medicine through transformative new diagnostic and therapeutic tools. Chemistry underpins advances in nanomedicine, providing new functional materials as well as state-of-the-art biochemical and analytical techniques. The main goal of this themed issue is to provide a broad survey of how materials, tools, techniques and insight provided by nanoscience are advancing our understanding of biomedicine and generating new tools towards the goal of improving human health.

Various nanostructured materials have been synthesised for diverse applications, including biomedical imaging, biosensing, diagnostics and therapy. Their size-dependent physical properties and nanometre-scale dimensions play important roles in biological systems. As an example, Chen, Lee and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15238F) introduce various types of highly sensitive nanosensors for biomarker detection.

Magnetic nanoparticles have been extensively investigated for magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), hyperthermia, targeted drug delivery, biosensing and protein separation. Lee and Hyeon (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15248C) discuss how MR contrast effects can be improved by controlling the size, composition, doping, assembly and surface properties of iron-oxide-based nanoparticles. Xu and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15315G) survey the use of magnetic nanoparticles for manipulating proteins and cells.

The unique size- and shape-dependent optoelectronic properties of gold nanoparticles have led to their application in biological detection and analysis. Murphy, El-Sayed and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15237H) provide insights into the design, synthesis, functionalisation and applications of gold nanoparticles in biomedicine, while Mukherjee and colleagues (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15355F) review the synthesis and various clinical applications of gold, silver and platinum nanoparticles. Jans and Huo (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15280G) present recent developments on the use of gold nanoparticles for biological sensing, and Merkoçi and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15134G) survey recent advancements using gold nanoparticles for cancer biomarker detection.

Polymeric nanostructured materials have widespread applications as therapeutic delivery vehicles. Farokhzad and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15344K) provide insights into the design and development of targeted polymeric nanoparticles for therapeutic applications. Miyata, Nishiyama and Kataoka (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15258K) describe rational design strategies for polymeric materials to construct versatile carriers for gene therapy applications. Haag and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15242D) report on the current status and perspective of dendritic polymer nanoconjugate platforms for cellular localisation and targeting of specific tissues, while De Geest and colleagues (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15296G) give an overview of recent advances on the use of polymer multilayer capsules as multifunctional drug carriers. Frandsen and Ghandehari (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15303C) summarise progress made in the design and synthesis of recombinant polymers for drug and gene delivery applications, while Elsabahy and Wooley (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15327K) highlight the importance of well-defined chemistries for the design of polymeric nanostructures for various biomedical delivery applications. Meier, Palivan and colleagues (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15240H) discuss how polymer supramolecular structures can accommodate sensitive biomolecules such as enzymes to mimic natural systems and functions. Mizrahy and Peer (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15239D) summarise recent developments in the use of nanoscale drug delivery systems using polysaccharide-based nanoparticles.

Synergistic combinations of different nanostructured materials will enable the development of multifunctional nanomedical platforms for simultaneous diagnosis and therapy in the rapidly emerging area of theranostics. Kwon and co-workers (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15261D) highlight recent advances in the development of multifunctional nanoparticles and their applications for multimodal imaging and theragnosis. Lin and colleagues (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15229K) summarise the latest progress on designing silica-based nanoprobes for biomedical imaging and theranostic applications. Li, Barnes, Bosoy, Stoddart and Zink (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15246G) provide an outlook on mesoporous silica nanoparticles for application in drug delivery and targeted theranostics in biology and medicine.

In addition to the development of new nanostructured materials, chemistry provides a wealth of technologies that can be recruited to address specific biomedical challenges. Mout, Moyano, Rana and Rotello (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15294K) summarise recent advances in tailoring nanoparticle interfaces for implementation in nanomedicine.

Significant advances in nanomedicine require a fundamental understanding of nanobiology. Walkey and Chan (DOI: 10.1039/C1CS15233E) discuss the protein corona adsorbed on nanoparticles in terms of formation, structure and composition, as well as its influence on the physiological response. Canton and Battaglia (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15309B) present an overview of the biology of endocytosis and discuss its implications in cell internalisation of nanoparticles for drug delivery applications. Doane and Burda (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15260F) discuss key issues for biomedical applications of nanoparticles, including transport, uptake and clearance, while Kontos and Hubbell (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS15289D) introduce the concepts of physiological protein clearance from the body, and describe several chemical modification and protein engineering approaches used to improve the lifespan of administered protein therapeutics. Lévy and colleagues (DOI: 10.1039/C2CS35031A) review the cellular interactions and cell labelling of inorganic nanoparticles as well as their use for in vivo imaging.

The reviews and highlight contained in this themed issue provide a diverse survey of the implications of chemistry in the field of nanomedicine. Of equal significance, nanomedicine is leading chemistry into new areas, providing researchers in the field with tangible opportunities to make progress towards ultimately improving healthcare and medicine. Assembling this issue was a rewarding experience, and we hope that you will enjoy the contents and find them useful in your research and teaching.

Footnote

† Part of the nanomedicine themed issue.

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