The Ups and Downs of Nanobiotech

[rylo]

Balance is hard to find as researchers, investors, and environmentalists jockey for position<br /><br />Ten years from now, a visit to the doctor could be quite different than it is today. How different? Imagine tiny particles that "cook " cancers from the inside out; "smart bomb" drugs that detonate only over their targets; and finely structured scaffolds that guide tissue regeneration.<br /><br />But it's not just imagination. In academic labs, small startups, and giant pharmaceutical companies, researchers in the blossoming field of nanotechnology have shown that these concepts can work -- at least in lab animals and tissue culture dishes. Now they are working to turn these proofs-of-principle into approved therapies. But a lot can happen between mouse and man, and many a "proven " therapy has failed to make the transition.<br /><br />Nanotech actually is bigger than medicine, of course; those in the know say it will transform every industry. Eager to get in the act, governments and private firms worldwide have lavished the sector with cash, an estimated $8.6 billion (US) in 2004, according to one report.1 "We're seeing nanotech as a metaphorical worldwide poker game, where all of these countries are anteing up more and more money to go towards nanotech research," says Robert Paull, managing partner and cofounder of Lux Capital, a venture capital firm based in New York. And it's still anybody's game, Paull added in a followup e-mail: "The flop is on the table and countries are trying to determine what their strengths are." <br /><br />http://www.the-scientist.com/yr2004/aug/feature_040830.html<br />