nanotechnology in surgery and medicine

NANOTECHNOLOGY IN SURGERY AND

MEDICINE

VISHNU AMBAREESH M S

History

The possiblity of molecular engineering first described by Nobel laureate physicist Richard Feynman in 1959. Feynman gave a lecture at the California Institute of Technology called "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom" in which he described the possibility of manipulating things atom by atom and using small machines down to the atomic level

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Swallowing the surgeon

It would be interesting in surgery if you could

swallow the surgeon. You put the mechanical

surgeon inside the blood vessel and it goes

into the heart and “looks” around… other

small machines might be permanently

incorporated in the body to assist some

inadequately- functioning organ.

RICHARD P. FEYMAN 1959( nobel prize, physics 1965)

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• Norio Taniguchi of Tokyo Science University

first defined nanotechnology in 1974. His

definition still stands as the basic statement

today.

"'Nano-technology mainly consists of the

processing of separation, consolidation, and

deformation of materials by one atom or

one molecule."

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1966

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• Popularised in 1980s by

K Eric Drexler

– Student of Feynman

• Drexler presented his key

ideas in a paper on

molecular engineering

published in 1981, and

expanded these themes

in a layman

comprehensible book

Engines of Creation.VAMS

What is it?

Nanotechnology can be defined as the science and

engineering involved in the design, synthesis,

characterization, and application of materials and devices

whose smallest functional organization in at least one

dimension is on the nanometer scale or one billionth of a

meter.

Technology dealing with the manufacture and use of devices

on the scale of molecules, a few nanometers wide

motors,

robot arms, and

even whole computers.

http://www.crnano.org/crnglossary.htm#Nanometer

Image of Dust Mite Sitting Atop a Nanotechnology Engine

How to make??

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Molecular assembler• Device with molecular robotic arm,

anchored to the substrate and immersed in feedstock.o Device about 100 nanometers long and contain

about 4 million atoms, about the size of an average virus.

o It would have six degrees of freedom of movement, and because of its tiny size, be able to move astonishingly quickly.

o The free end would grab molecular fragments in the feedstock and hold them stiffly for reactions to build larger units.

Molecular assembler

Model

Synthetic and Assembly

Approaches

• Different methods for the synthesis

of assemblers.

o“top down” approaches

o“bottom up” approaches

o and combinations

Top down approach

• Begin with a macroscopic material or

group of materials and incorporate

smaller-scale details into them.

o The best known example of a “top down”

approach is the photolithography technique

used by the semiconductor industry to create

integrated circuits by etching patterns in

silicon wafers

Bottom up

• “Bottom up” approaches, begin by designing and synthesizing custom-made molecules that have the ability to self-assemble or self-organize into higher order macroscale structures.o synthesize molecules that spontaneously self-

assemble upon the controlled change of a specific chemical or physical trigger, such as a change in pH, the concentration of a specific solute, or the application of an electric field.

Classification • The whole field of nanotechnology is again

divided into 3 sub categories.

• Type One:

o Using thin Films.

• Type Two:

o Using nanoscale fibres.

• Type Three:

o Using nanoparticles.

Applications in medicine

Development of

• Microelectromechanical systems

(MEMS)

• Biocompatible electronic devices

o that have a significant potential for

improving the treatment of many

disorders

• Human breast cancer cells (purple) are targeted by

nanoparticles (green) developed by MIT professor

Paula Hammond. The particles bind to receptors

overexpressed by cancer cells.

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Chemically functionalized

dendrimers

• Highly branched molecules with a “tree-like” branching structure that can be used as o molecular building blocks

for gene therapy agents

o magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) contrast agents

o Nonviral delivery vehicle for DNA

Drug delivery systems

• Novel drug delivery systems (specifically for

the blood brain barrier) using nanoparticles.

• Highly porous self-assembling bilayer tubule

systems as biological membranes.

Nanofilters and masks• Specialized

membranes for the separation of low weight organic compounds .

• This nanomembranemay allow very selective ultrafiltration of physiologic toxic compounds.o Used for making

nanomasks

Molecular motors• Biomimetic self-assembling molecular motors

such as

o flagella of bacteria

o the mechanical forces produced by RNA

polymerase during protein transcription.

• These molecular motors provide excellent

examples of naturally occurring biological

self-assembly.

Molecular motor

Medical Nanorobots• Several units ranging in size from 1-100 nm

fitted together to make a working machine

measuring 0.5-3 microns.

o Three microns is about the maximum size for

bloodborne medical nanorobots, due to the

capillary passage requirement.

• Carbon will be the principal element

comprising the bulk of a medical

nanorobot, probably in the form of diamond

or diamondoid / fullerene nanocomposites.

Proposed model of a medical nanorobot

Examples

Respirocytes - "Artificial

Mechanical Red Cell"

Clottocytes - "Artificial

Mechanical Platelets"

Microbivores - "Artificial

Mechanical Phagocytes"

Respirocytes• Existing ones

o Hemoglobin Formulations

• Liposome-encapsulated hemoglobin

o Fluorocarbon Emulsions

• Nanotecnological approach

o Principle - active means of conveying gas

molecules into, and out of, pressurized

microvessels.

Molecular Sorting Rotor

Functioning• Sorts small gas molecules, and pump

against high pressures up to 30,000 atm

• Used to load or unload gas storage tanks, depending upon the direction of rotor rotation

• Uses

o Poisoning

o Substitutes of RBCs

oDeep sea diving – prevents BENDS

Respirocytes in blood – graphical representation

ClottocytesArtificial Mechanical Platelets

Clottocytes• Serum oxyglucose-powered spherical

nanorobot ~2 microns in diameter

containing a fiber mesh that is compactly

folded onboard.

• Upon command from its control computer,

the device unfolds its mesh packet in the

immediate vicinity of an injured blood vessel

-- following a cut through the skin.

Clottocytes• Soluble thin films coating the mesh dissolve upon

contact with plasma , revealing sticky sections (e.g., complementary to blood group antigens unique to red cell surfaces) in desired patterns. Blood cells are immediately trapped in the overlapping artificial nettings released by multiple neighboring activated clottocytes ,and bleeding halts at once.

MicrobivoresArtificial Mechanical Phagocytesusing DIGEST AND DISCHARGE PROTOCOL

Uses

• Sepsis and Septicemia

• Bacteremia

• Viremia

• Fungemia

• Rickettsemia

Microbivore - Artificial Mechanical Phagocytes

Proposed model

Treatment • Injection of a few cubic centimeters of

micron-sized nanorobots suspended in fluid (probably a water/saline suspension).

• The typical therapeutic dose may include up to 1-10 trillion (1 trillion = 1012) individual nanorobots.

• Acts fast

• No immune reactions due to their specific shape

Nanosurgery

What Now• Japanese researchers have turned an

atomic force microscope (AFM) into a surgical tool for cells that could add or remove molecules from precise locations inside a cell without harming it.

• An AFM has a tiny tip attached to the end of a lever that can sense minute changes in the cell as it drags across a surface.

• The AFM can sense the force it exerts on the cell, making it extremely precise.

• The team used a beam of energetic ions to

sharpen a standard silicon AFM tip into a

needle just eight micrometres long and 200

nanometres wide.

• Researchers was able to insert the needle into

a human embryonic kidney cell.

• The cell membrane quickly returned to its

original shape, and the needle was pushed

into the cell's nucleus.

• The needle will allow to inject molecules into

specific regions of a cell.

• It would also be possible to monitor the

chemistry of a cell in real time.

atoms are being moved by the single atom tip of a

Atomic Force Microscope (AFM). Apart from allowing

scientist to image atoms, this instrument also allows

them to actually move them one at the time.

Femtosecond laser surgery

• Femtosecond (one millionth of a

billionth of a second) laser pulses are

used which can selectively cut a

single strand in a single cell.

• One can target a specific organelle

inside a single cell (a mitochondrion or

a strand on the cytoskeleton) and

destroy it without disrupting the rest of

the cell.

Use of laser beams on individual molecules

Femtosecond laser surgery

• When a femtosecond laser pulse is tightly focused into a nearly-transparent biological material, energy is deposited by nonlinear absorption only in the focus where laser intensity is high, resulting in disruption of the molecular structure and thus altering the cytoskeletal framework.

• It is possible to carve channels slightly less than 1 micron wide, well within a cell's diameter of 10 to 20 microns .

• This technique has been used for disrupting single neural axons in living organisms and manipulating sub-cellular structures in cells.

Femtolaser beams visualised through optic fibres

Femtolaser emulator

Femtolaser Neurosurgery• Femtolaser acts like

a pair of tiny "nano-

scissors", which is

able to cut nano-

sized structures like

nerve axons.

• Once cut, the axons

vaporize and no

other tissue is

harmed.Axon segments

Nanosurgery -Future

DNA Repair Machines

• Floating inside the

nucleus of a human

cell, an assembler-

built repair vessel

performs genetic

maintenance.

Cell repair• Poisoning, asphyxiation, drowning,

require cell-by-cell repair.

• A Nanorobot first envelopes the

patient, then enters in between all his

cells.

• It disassembles the patient,

surrounding each cell with its own

repair machinery and vascular system.

Thrombosis – Nanosurgical transbot

• Patrols the bloodstream, searching for unwanted developing internal clots. If a blood vessel occlusion occurs, in vivonanorobots can immediately clear an opening so that free blood flow may resume, avoiding tissue ischemia.

Cancer therapy• A "Stinger"

nanorobot engages in a delicate surgical operation to remove a cancer tumor.

• Injects a toxin or medicine of choice, either autonomously, or through teleoperation.

"Drillers, Peepers, Stingers"

• "Drillers, Peepers, Stingers" engage in a delicate surgical operation to remove a tumor. Whilst the Stingers inject a toxin, Drillers cut deep into the tumor. A Peeper broadcasts the whole video scene to the surgeon

Applications in common life

• Nanotechnology was first used in

fabric in 1998 by a chemist named

David Soane, who founded Nano-Tex

while the first widespread commercial

use began in 2001.

• Fabrics are engineered on a molecular

level so that clothing becomes wrinkle

resistant, stain repellent and even able

to brush away body moisture and

body odour.

Nanotech Fabrics

Nanotech fabrics therapeutics

• Chemotherapeutic agents can be in

corporated into fabrics which aids in the

dose related sustained release of these

chemotherapeutic drugs.

oNanotech vests for Breast carcinoma.

oNanotech briefs for Testicular tumours.

Nano food• Catalytic anti-oxidant device

for use in restaurant deep-frying machines.

• Keeps frying oil fresh significantly longero surface areas are increased

exponentially by reducing the surface particle size to the nano-level.

o it exposes a huge surface area to the oil -- diverting oxygen away from the oil and prevents the oil from clumping. It also allows for a shorter frying time, with less oil remaining in the food.

Smart Surfaces• smart surfaces are self-cleaning.

• Refrigerators have been made with interiors coated to be effective at self-sterilization and deodorization. They also have antibacterial properties that allow food to stay fresher for longer, and save energy by this means. They also are lined with nano-based insulation materials that reduce energy consumption.

• Dishwashers have been made that wash and sterilize dishes and do so at lower temperatures.

• Vanadium-oxide-coated glass is a potent oxidizer under UV light. This material can be coated in hydrophobic whiskers on the surface of glass, making it hydrophobic as well. As a result, dirt, debris, and organic material are easily oxidized in sunlight and washed off in rain, making for a self-cleaning window

The proposed concepts

Ageing

• DNA repair machines can repair or replace

damaged or miscoded sections of

chromosomes.

• Other medical nanorobots capable of cell

repair can purge human tissue cells of

unhealthy accumulated products and restore

these cells to their youthful vigor.

Augmentation

• Improvement of existing natural biological systems and the addition of new systems and capabilities not found in nature. Such re-engineering is commonly called "augmentation".

o Wings

o Implanted nanocomputers in brain

Cosmetics - COSMOBOTS

• "Little robots hidden

in the skin to dispense

the pigments from

their stores as

programmed by their

owners "

Flying Saucer Barberbots"used for 'non-

buzz' haircuts.

They can be

programmed to

cut a person's

hair, to any

style."

Cryostasis

Dying patient could be frozen, then stored at

the temperature of liquid nitrogen for

decades or even centuries until the

necessary medical technology to restore

health is developed

Dental care

• Medical nanobots

capable of

repairing the

various tissues of the

teeth and gums.

Utility Foglet

Utility Foglets• Microscopic robot about the size of a

human cell and 12 arms sticking out in all

directions. A bucketfull of such robots might

form a `robot crystal' by linking their arms up

into a lattice structure.

• Fill them to air in rooms.

• The robots are called Foglets and the

substance they form is Utility Fog, which may

have many useful medical applications.

• Quoting President of India,

A P J Abdul Kalam

“…..in information

technology, India has the

potential of becoming the

third largest knowledge

power in the world,

nanotechnology can push

India as one of the most

important technology-

nations in the world….”

Predictions

• Things that become practical with mature Nanotechology (paraphrasing Dr. Drexler)

• Nearly free consumer products

• PC's billions of times faster then today

• Safe and affordable space travel

• Virtual end to illness, aging, death

• No more pollution and automatic cleanup of existing pollution

• End of famine and starvation

• Superior education for every child on Earth

• Reintroduction of many extinct plants and animals

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LET THERE BE LIGHT………… THANK YOU……….

nanotechnology in surgery and medicine

Health & Medicine