Guest lecturer from the University of South Florida, Professor Yashwant Pathak’s seminar on Nano Medicine was hosted by the Head of the Medical Biochemistry Discipline in the School of Laboratory Medicine, Professor Anil Chuturgoon.
Pathak said that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved many products with particulate materials in the nano size range. Most drugs are expected to go through a nano size phase during the process of absorption in the body. No safety concerns have been reported in the past because of particle size. Products considered for approval by the FDA include fluorescent biological markers; detection of proteins; probing of DNA structures; separation and purification of biological molecules and cells; MRI contrast enhancement; tumour destruction via heating; tissue engineering; and drug and gene delivery.
He said that the major areas where nano medicine has a future are the treatment of cancers and infectious diseases and the development of novel drug delivery systems for ophthalmic, optic and IV applications as well as delivery of therapeutic genes, proteins and peptides to treat different diseases.
The genesis of nano medicine was the visionary idea that tiny nano bullets and nano robots and related machines could be designed, manufactured, and introduced to the human body to perform cellular repairs at the molecular level.
Words: Lihle Sosibo
