Won Hyuk Suh¹, Kenneth S. Suslick², Galen D. Stucky¹, Yoo-Hun Suh^3*

¹ Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Materials Department, University of California, Santa Barbara, CA, 93106, USA
²600 S. Mathews Ave., School of Chemical Sciences, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL 61801, USA
³National Creative Research Initiative Center for Alzheimer''s Dementia, and Neuroscience Research Institute, Medical Research Council, Department of Pharmacology, College of Medicine, Seoul National University, 28 Yeongeon-dong, Jongno-gu, South Korea, 110-799

^*Corresponding author at: Tel.: +82 2 740 8285; fax: +82 2 745 7996.

Received 16 January 2008;  revised 2 July 2008;  accepted 18 September 2008.  Available online 24 September 2008.

Abstract

Nanotechnology, which deals with features as small as a 1 billionth of a meter, began to enter into the main stream physical sciences and engineering some 20 years ago. Recent applications of nanoscience are their use in electronics, catalysis, and biomedical research. Among these applications, strong interest and focus has been given to research involving biological processes such as blood coagulation control and multimodal bioimaging and has brought about a new and exciting research field called nanobiotechnology. Biotechnology itself also dates back to 20-30 years and it involves the manipulation of macroscopic biological systems such as cells and mice to fundamentally or phenomenally understand why and how certain molecular level mechanisms affect specific biological functions such as the role of APP (amyloid precursor protein) in Alzheimer''s disease (AD). This review aims, first, to introduce key concepts and materials that were engineered under the context of nanotechnology to a non-physical sciences community. Second, introduce several state-of-the-art examples that was either constructed for use in biological systems or that can, in time, be utilized for biomedical research. Third, provide recent excerpts in nanotoxicology and engineered nanomaterials including structured surfaces, multifunctional nanoparticles, nanoscale imaging, and gene delivery. And, fourth, propose neuroscience research areas that may benefit from interfaces created by neurobiologically important systems and nanostructed materials.