title: Nanomedicine in the Management of Microbial Infection - Overview and Perspectives.
abstract: For more than 2 billion years, microbes have reigned on our planet, evolving or outlasting many obstacles they have encountered. In the 20thcentury, this trend took a dramatic turn with the introduction of antibiotics and vaccines. Nevertheless, since then, microbes have progressively eroded the effectiveness of previously successful antibiotics by developing resistance, and many infections have eluded conventional vaccine design approaches. Moreover, the emergence of resistant and more virulent strains of bacteria has outpaced the development of new antibiotics over the last few decades. These trends have had major economic and health impacts at all levels of the socioeconomic spectrum - we need breakthrough innovations that could effectively manage microbial infections and deliver solutions that stand the test of time. The application of nanotechnologies to medicine, or nanomedicine, which has already demonstrated its tremendous impact on the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industries, is rapidly becoming a major driving force behind ongoing changes in the antimicrobial field. Here we provide an overview on the current progress of nanomedicine in the management of microbial infection, including diagnosis, antimicrobial therapy, drug delivery, medical devices, and vaccines, as well as perspectives on the opportunities and challenges in antimicrobial nanomedicine.
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA ; West China School of Pharmacy, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610041, China.
authors.forename: Xi
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Aleksandar F
authors.initials: AF
authors.lastname: Radovic-Moreno
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemical Engineering, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA ; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Langer
authors.affiliation: Brigham and Women's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115, USA ; Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences & Technology, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
authors.forename: Jinjun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shi
keywords: Diagnosis; Drug delivery; Medical device; Microbial infection; Nanomedicine; Therapy; Vaccine