title: Nanoscale interfaces to biology.
abstract: Nanotechnology has held great promise for revolutionizing biology. The biological behavior of nanomaterials depends primarily on how they interface to biomolecules and their surroundings. Unfortunately, interface issues like non-specific adsorption are still the biggest obstacles to the success of nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine, and have held back widespread practical use of nanotechnology in biology. Not only does the biological interface of nanoparticles (NPs) need to be understood and controlled, but also NPs must be treated as biological entities rather than inorganic ones. Furthermore, one can adopt an engineering perspective of the NP-biological interface, realizing that it has unique, exploitable properties.
authors.affiliation: Department of Mechanical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Sunho
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Park
authors.forename: Kimberly
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hamad-Schifferli
mesh_terms: D000327:Adsorption; D001695:Biology / Q000379:methods*; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D006801:Humans; D036103:Nanotechnology / Q000379:methods*; D011506:Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D011506:Proteins; D004247:DNA