AN INTRODUCTION TO NANOCOMPUTING - Bio-Inspired and Nanoscale Integrated Computing - page 25

system (CNS). Pioneer work being done in this novel field may one day bring us
numerous new therapeutic choices that hold much less risk for patients, as well as
prove a more convenient means for surgeons to handle molecular machinery.
According to Dr. Gabriel A. Silva, technological advancements must occur
alongside clinical neuroscience advancements [43, 44] simply because of the highly
interdisciplinary nature. An emerging field of neuroscience nanocomputing is
the production of materials and devices designed to interact with neurons at the
molecular level. The developing platform technology of nanowires that is to be
discussed in this section may prove to have broad applications in neuroscience
and, of greater importance, possess the potential to save lives much sooner than
expected.
1.7.1. Nanomachinery: Opportunities and Challenges
Imagine wires that were hundreds or thousands of times thinner than the human
hair, utilizing blood vessels in the body as conduits towards adjacent individual
neurons. These are what we would call nanowires [45]. Dr. Charles M. Leiber, an
interested researcher at Harvard University in the field of nanocomputing,
invented a nanowire transistor that can detect, stimulate, and inhibit neuronal
signals [46]. This gives rise to the question of what a nanowire is. In simple terms, a
nanowire is a wire of dimensions in the order of a nanometer. These range in
makeup, being either metallic, semiconducting, or insulating. Some previous
technology was available in this area but was too large in size. Micropipette
electrodes were previously available but were harmful to cells in that they
destructively poked cells. By contrast, the tiny nanowire transistors developed
by Lieber and colleagues gently touch a neuronal projection to form a hybrid
synapse, making them noninvasive and thousands of times smaller than the
electronics now used to measure brain activity [46]. In addition to being
nonintrusive, nanowires can be biodegradable, biocompatible, and capable of
producing diagnostic test results in minutes instead of days.
A great effort has already been invested in this nanomachinery, and a series of
promising results have thus been revealed. One such opportunity is the silicon
nanowires' precision in its detection of bioterrorism threats. When discussing
neuropathological disease processes at a molecular level, scientists can observe
that there is potential in a nanowire's ability to limit such disease processes with
early detection. Unlike conventional DNA sensors, such nanowire techniques
provide much more detailed information on the scale of neurons, as well as give a
sharper focus of disease markers in perhaps any bodily fluid in humans [47].
Likewise with degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's and Alzheimer's, nano-
wires provide hope for treatment rid of damaging side effects (brain tissue scars)
by stimulating the affected area of the brain with wires tinier than capillaries
themselves. Many researchers envision nanowires connected to a catheter tube
and able to be guided throughout the circulatory system to the brain, where nerve-
to-nerve interactions will allow neuroscientists to make earlier diagnoses and
provide earlier treatment without the cost of time consuming procedures.