Cachau Raul E, Gonzalez-Nilo Fernando D, Ventura Oscar N, Fritts Martin J
ABCC, SAIC-Frederick, Inc., National Cancer Institute at Frederick, Frederick, MD21702, USA.
Curr Top Med Chem. 2007;7(15):1537-40. doi: 10.2174/156802607782194680.
Nanobiology is a fast-emerging discipline that brings the tools of nanotechnology to the biological sciences. The introduction of new techniques may accelerate the development of highly specific biomedical treatments, increase their efficiency, and minimize their side effects. Introducing foreign bodies into the complex machinery of the human body is, however, a great and humbling challenge, as past experience has shown. In order for nanobiology to reach its full potential, we must devise a means to alter the properties of nanoparticles, as expressed in the human body, in a predictable manner. Computer-aided methods are the natural option to speed up the development of these technologies. Yet, the procedures for annotation and simulation of nanoparticle properties must be developed and their limitations understood before computational methods can be fully exploited. In this review we will compare the state of development of nanoscale simulations in the biological sciences to that of the computer-aided drug design efforts in the past, tracing a historical parallel between both disciplines. From this comparison, lessons can be learned and bottlenecks identified, helping to speed up the development of computer-aided nanobiodevice design tools.
纳米生物学是一门迅速兴起的学科，它将纳米技术工具引入到生物科学领域。新技术的引入可能会加速高度特异性生物医学治疗方法的发展，提高其效率，并将副作用降至最低。然而，正如过去的经验所表明的那样，将异物引入人体复杂的机体是一项巨大且令人敬畏的挑战。为了使纳米生物学充分发挥其潜力，我们必须设计出一种方法，以可预测的方式改变纳米颗粒在人体内所表现出的特性。计算机辅助方法是加速这些技术发展的自然选择。然而，在能够充分利用计算方法之前，必须先开发纳米颗粒特性的注释和模拟程序，并了解其局限性。在这篇综述中，我们将把生物科学中纳米尺度模拟的发展状况与过去计算机辅助药物设计的努力进行比较，追溯这两个学科之间的历史平行关系。通过这种比较，可以吸取经验教训并识别瓶颈，从而有助于加速计算机辅助纳米生物设备设计工具的开发。
