Pharmacytes: an ideal vehicle for targeted drug delivery.
An ideal nanotechnology-based drug delivery system is a pharmacyte--a self-powered, computer-controlled medical nanorobot system capable of digitally precise transport, timing, and targeted delivery of pharmaceutical agents to specific cellular and intracellular destinations within the human body. Pharmacytes may be constructed using future molecular manufacturing technologies such as diamond mechanosynthesis which are currently being investigated theoretically using quantum ab initio and density-functional computational methods. Pharmacytes will have many applications in nanomedicine such as initiation of apoptosis in cancer cells and direct control of cell signaling processes.
Freitas
Robert A
RA
Institute for Molecular Manufacturing, 555 Bryant Street, Suite 354, Palo Alto, California 94301, USA.
D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004360:Drug Therapy, Computer-Assisted / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D004867:Equipment Design; D008904:Miniaturization; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*; D012371:Robotics / Q000295:instrumentation / Q000379:methods*