BME 695N Lecture 2: Basic Concepts of Nanomedical Systems

Outline: Features of NanomedicineBottoms up rather than top down approach to medicine Nano-tools on the scale of molecules Cell-by-cell repair approach – regenerative medicine Feedback control system to control drug dosing Elements of good engineering designWhenever possible, use a general design that has already been testedUse multiple specific molecules to do multi-step tasksControl the order of molecular assembly to control the order of eventsTherefore, perform the molecular assembly in reverse order to the desired order of events Building a nanodeviceChoice of core materialsAdd drug or therapeutic geneAdd molecular biosensors to control drug/gene deliveryAdd intracellular targeting moleculesResult is multi-component, multi-functional nanomedical deviceFor use, design to de-layer, one layer at a timeThe multi-step drug/gene delivery process in nanomedical systems The challenge of drug/gene dosing to single cellsPrecise targeting of drug delivery system while protecting non-targeted cells from exposure to the drugHow to minimize mis-targetingHow to deliver the right dose per cellOne possible solution – in situ manufacture of therapeutic genes