Nanobiomaterial is a multidisciplinary scientific field with roots in life science, material science and nanotechnology. The basic and application researches of nanobiomaterials have been the hot topic in the materials research for biomedicine and biotechnology, which have developed quickly in biomedical implant and intervention medicine, tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, and drug/gene delivery system. This review focuses on the potential of nanobiomaterials including biocompatible surface, tissue engineering and regenerative materials, new drug/gene delivery system and bioanalysis system, with an attempt to explore their possible applications in clinical practice.
Biocompatible Materials ; Biotechnology ; methods ; trends ; Nanostructures ; Nanotechnology ; methods ; trends

Hyperthermia therapy with AC magnetic field heating magnetic nanoparticles is a new kind of treatment method. The paper reviews the research progresses about AC magnetic heating setups for hyperthermia therapy measurements of magnetic field temperature control, and so on.
Humans ; Hyperthermia, Induced ; methods ; Magnetics ; Nanotechnology ; Neoplasms ; therapy

Nanobodies are derived from the variable domain of the heavy-chain antibodies (HCAbs) that occur naturally in the serum of camels. Using nanobody-based probes, several imaging techniques such as radionuclide-based, optical and ultrasound have been employed for visualization of target expression in various disease models. Combined with application and clinical data of nanobody in molecular imaging in recent years, this paper introduces its application in the diagnosis of diseases and the future development as a novel molecular imaging tool.
Humans ; Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains ; Molecular Imaging ; methods ; Molecular Probes ; Nanotechnology

Microbe is extremely abundant in nature, and its size has a very wide coverage from nano- to micro-scale making it suitable to be processed at multi-scale level as natural "building blocks" and "chassis cells". Biofabrication based on microbes is an artificial manipulation on microbes to assemble functional materials and devices by using the specific structures and various biological functions of microbes. In the meantime, the novel strategies of biofarication enables us to study the behavioral details of microbes, which will provide new platforms for uncovering the unsolved basic scientific problems of microbes. In this paper, we reviewed the frontier and progress in biofabrication from nano- and micro-scale in microbes that were manipulated as structured "building blocks" or functional "micro/nano robots".
Bacteria ; metabolism ; Biomimetics ; methods ; Biotechnology ; Microfluidic Analytical Techniques ; methods ; Nanotechnology ; Viruses ; metabolism

This article summarizes biological detection techniques based on magnetic signal of magnetic nanoparticles and the research progress of these techniques in biomedicine. Biological detection based on magnetic nanoparticles is faster, more accurate and more convenient compared to traditional optical techniques and causes much attention. It can be classified into giant magneto resistive biosensor (GMR), magnetic relaxation switch (based on T2 relaxation time), AC susceptibility (based on Brownian relaxation) and magnetic lateral flow immunoassay. These techniques can be combined with nanotechnology, microfluidics, immunoassay and bio-chips and have wide application prospects in clinical diagnosis, biological detection, environmental monitoring and food security areas.
Biosensing Techniques ; instrumentation ; methods ; Immunoassay ; instrumentation ; methods ; Magnetic Phenomena ; Nanoparticles ; chemistry ; Nanotechnology ; instrumentation ; Point-of-Care Systems

Aptamers are oligo-nucleotides which are selected by SELEX (systematic evolution of ligands by exponential enrichment) in vitro, it can bind protein or other small molecules with high specificity and affinity. Researches on aptamers have achieved much progress in biosensor, drug development and nano technology. This article has reviewed the researches and applications of aptamers in the past two years.
Animals ; Aptamers, Nucleotide ; isolation & purification ; Biosensing Techniques ; methods ; Drug Design ; Humans ; Nanotechnology ; methods ; SELEX Aptamer Technique

Biochip technology will bring a tremendous revolution to life science and medical research in 21 century. Microarray assays represent an essential technical advance in biomedical research. Recently, the demand for microarray assay technology has spring up. Therefore, low cost and flexible techniques are needed to meet specific requirements for increasingly integrated biochips. Also performance must be improved in terms of speed and sensitivity. To this end, promising approaches, mainly based on micro and nanotechnologies, have been developed. In this paper, the design and microfabrication of a novel type of micro-cantilever probe are introduced. These probes were fabricated using silicon dioxide by Micro-electromechanical System (MEMS) techniques, and they featured one micron split gap, microchannels and self-replenishing reservoirs. All fabricated micro-cantilever probe were tested on Nanoarrayer instrumentation. Cy3-streptavidin was loaded as biological sample and patterned on DSU gold surface. Results showed these probes were capable of generating high quality biological arrays with routine spot sizes of 2 - 3 microns and could deposit at least three thousand spots without reloading. The spot size could potentially achieve sub-micron when probe size was further shrunk down by the high-resolution lithography technique or more precise microfabrication technologies, such as E-beam lithography. To further improve sample loading efficiency, it is needed to modify the cantilever surface in order to better confine sample inside the microchannel and reservoir, which will be researched in the future.
Microarray Analysis ; instrumentation ; methods ; Microelectrodes ; Molecular Probe Techniques ; instrumentation ; Nanotechnology ; instrumentation ; methods ; Silicon Dioxide ; chemistry

Nanocarriers generally made of natural or artificial polymers ranging in size from about 10-1 000 nm, possess versatile properties suitable for drug delivery, including good biocompatibility and biodegradability, potential capability of targeted delivery and controlled release of incorporated drugs, and have been extensively used in the development of new drug delivery systems (DDS). These types of nano-DDS have considerable potential to traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), and recently have attracted increasing efforts on the TCM research and development. In this review, the recently published literature worldwide is covered to describe the latest advances in the applications as TCM delivery carriers, and to highlight the characteristics and preparation methods of some selected examples of promising nanocarriers such as nanoparticles, lipid nanoparticles, nanoemulsions, nanomicelles and nanoliposomes.
Drug Carriers ; chemistry ; Medicine, Chinese Traditional ; methods ; Nanostructures ; chemistry ; Nanotechnology ; methods

Self-assembly of peptides is ubiquitous in the body of creatures. The molecules of peptides combine with each other to form proteins with different functions through self-assembly. The formation of a specific conformation of one type of protein is owing to the self-assembly of its compositive amino acids. So, researchers can design self-assembly of peptides at the molecular level and can control its formation and configuration. It has the potential for application in the preparation of new medicines and biomaterials. In recent years, self-assembling peptides have been increasingly high-lighted and used to simulate the function of natural biomolecules, to synthesize peptide-medicine, and to serve as the carriers of medicine.
Biocompatible Materials ; chemical synthesis ; Molecular Conformation ; Nanotechnology ; methods ; Peptides ; chemistry ; Protein Engineering ; methods

This paper has introduced the terms, concept and characteristics of superfine comminution of traditional Chinese medicine. The progress in the study on the superfine comminution of the single drug and compound prescription was analyzed, and work principles of equipment in common use for superfine comminution were outlined. The future application of superfine comminution technique in traditional Chinese medicine was forecast and the problems that should be solved during the future research work were also pointed out in the paper.
Drugs, Chinese Herbal ; administration & dosage ; Nanotechnology ; Particle Size ; Powders ; Technology, Pharmaceutical ; instrumentation ; methods