This document discusses the potential applications of nanotechnology in healthcare. It explains that nanotechnology involves manipulating matter at the subatomic level and can be used to more efficiently deliver drugs to specific cells, potentially reducing the side effects of chemotherapy. Another application is regenerative medicine, where nanotechnology provides new tools to help restore damaged cells and tissues. The document also notes that nanotechnology allows for improved diagnostic tools and the potential development of new vaccine delivery methods without needles. However, the ethical and safe use of nanotechnology in healthcare is important to consider, as inhalation of nanoparticles may potentially harm organs.

1. Running head: NANOTECHNOLOGY IN HEALTHCARE 1
NANOTECHNOLOGY IN HEALTHCARE 2
How Nanotech Can Help Healthcare in the Future.
Nanotechnology holds the promise of changing and improving
the world in fundamental ways. While this technology is making
things like invisibility cloaks a reality, it can also change the
way researchers are approaching disease prevention and
treatment. Nanotechnology holds the potential for healthcare,
from diagnosing diseases more rapidly, delivering drugs more
rapidly to delivering vaccines via patches and aerosols. Before
delving into some of the applications of nanotechnology in
healthcare, it is imperative to shed light on its meaning.
Nanotechnology is the of manipulating matter at the subatomic
level(particles smaller than 100 nanometers).The technology
involves developing devices or materials in that dimension,
often a hundred times thinner than the width of a human hair
and invincible to the human eye. A major application of
nanotechnology is in the delivery of drugs to specific types of
cells such as cancer cells. Particles are altered so that they can
be attracted diseased cancer or diabetes cells. Direct delivery of
medicine to cells minimizes damage to healthy cells. This can
change the way physicians treat cancer and dramatically reduce
the toxic effects of chemotherapy (Farokhzad & Langer, 2009).
However, drug delivery is just the tip of the iceberg. There are

2. numerous ways that nanotechnology can be used to make drug
delivery more efficient and less unpleasant for the patient.
Some technologies are at their novel stages while others are
only imagined. However, the potential of nanotechnology and
nanoparticles in drug delivery is immense.
Another area of application of nanotechnology is in
regenerative medicine. Regenerative medicine attempts to
restore damaged or lost living tissue. It is an interdisciplinary
field that has been made possible by nanotechnology,
bioengineering. Nanotechnology could provide new strategies
and approaches to generative medicine, including new tools for
the restoration of damaged cells. Stem cells play a crucial role
in the repair of damaged human tissues. Researchers have
established that the surrounding microenvironment plays a
critical role in the growth, differentiation, and adhesion of stem
cells. Nano topography (the specific surface features) plays a
significant role in the behavior and functioning of stem cells.
Raffa et al. (2010) also examine the use of nanoparticles to stem
tracking, imaging, and isolation and conclude that
understanding the interaction of nanomaterials with stem cells
may help in the development of cell-scaffold combinations in
regenerative medicine and tissue engineering.
Nanotechnology has enabled better diagnostic tools that are
paving the way for more accurate diagnosis, more
individualized interventions, and better therapeutic outcomes.
Nanotechnology researchers are looking at ways this technology
can improve the development and delivery of vaccines to the
human body without the need for needles. Nano-scaffolding is
arguably the best way of developing a particle-based vaccine. A
vaccine must include antigens (parts of the target), which trains
the immune system to recognize and attack it. Novel research in
nano-scaffolding shows that good results are obtained when
nano-particles are used to pack and deliver antigens.
When implementing any new technology, risks and safety issues
must be considered. The ethical and safe use of nanotechnology
in healthcare is undoubtedly of utmost concern. When using this

3. technology, healthcare institutions and practitioners ought to be
cautious about risks related to privacy, effectiveness, safety,
and liability. Inhalation of nanoparticles may be detrimental to
organs such as the lungs, liver, spleen, and the brain.
References
Farokhzad, O. C., & Langer, R. (2009). Impact of
nanotechnology on drug delivery. ACS nano, 3(1), 16-20.
Raffa, V., Vittorio, O., Riggio, C., & Cuschieri, A. (2010).
Progress in nanotechnology for healthcare. Minimally Invasive
Therapy & Allied Technologies, 19(3), 127-135.