Savaliya Reema, Shah Darshini, Singh Ragini, Kumar Ashutosh, Shanker Rishi, Dhawan Alok, Singh Sanjay
Institute of Life Sciences, School of Science and Technology, Ahmedabad University, University Road, Ahmedabad-380009, Gujarat, India.
Curr Drug Metab. 2015;16(8):645-61.
Currently the major research highlights of bioengineering and medical technology are directed towards development of improved diagnostic techniques to screen complex diseases. Screening requirements are to identify the cause of illnesses, monitor improvement or progression of the state of diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular or neurodegenerative diseases. Nanotechnology enables the manipulation of materials at nanoscale and has shown potential to enhance sensitivity, selectivity and lower the cost of a diagnosis. The causative biomolecules (DNA, proteins) can be detected by red-shifted absorbance of gold nanoparticles or alteration in the conductance of a nanowire or nanotubes, and deflection of a micro or nano-cantilever. Several types of nanomaterials such as metals, metal-oxides and quantum dots have shown ample advantages over traditional diagnosis, intracellular labeling and visualization of target cells/tissues. Nanotechnology has also opened several avenues which could be further developed to enable enhanced visualization of tissues, cells, DNA and proteins over a point-of-care device. Protein or gene chips created using nanomaterials could further be integrated into a convenient nano-fluidic device for better disease diagnosis.
目前，生物工程和医学技术的主要研究重点是开发改进的诊断技术，以筛查复杂疾病。筛查的要求是确定疾病的病因，监测诸如癌症、心血管疾病或神经退行性疾病等疾病状态的改善或进展。纳米技术能够在纳米尺度上操纵材料，并已显示出提高诊断的灵敏度、选择性和降低成本的潜力。致病生物分子（DNA、蛋白质）可以通过金纳米颗粒的红移吸光度、纳米线或纳米管的电导率变化以及微悬臂梁或纳米悬臂梁的偏转来检测。几种类型的纳米材料，如金属、金属氧化物和量子点，在传统诊断、细胞内标记以及靶细胞/组织的可视化方面已显示出诸多优势。纳米技术还开辟了几条途径，可进一步开发以实现通过即时检测设备对组织、细胞、DNA和蛋白质进行增强的可视化。使用纳米材料制造的蛋白质或基因芯片可进一步集成到方便的纳米流体装置中，以实现更好的疾病诊断。
