title: Nanoparticles in medicine: therapeutic applications and developments.
abstract: Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter generally in the 1-100 nm dimension range. The application of nanotechnology to medicine, known as nanomedicine, concerns the use of precisely engineered materials at this length scale to develop novel therapeutic and diagnostic modalities. Nanomaterials have unique physicochemical properties, such as ultra small size, large surface area to mass ratio, and high reactivity, which are different from bulk materials of the same composition. These properties can be used to overcome some of the limitations found in traditional therapeutic and diagnostic agents.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering and Division of Health Science and Technology, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: F X
authors.initials: FX
authors.lastname: Gu
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Chan
authors.forename: A Z
authors.initials: AZ
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: R S
authors.initials: RS
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.forename: O C
authors.initials: OC
authors.lastname: Farokhzad
mesh_terms: D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods