Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter 1
An IntroduCtIon to VnPs And
nAnoteChnology
Viruses have long been studied as pathogens, with the goal of understanding
viral infection and disease. More recently viruses have begun to be regarded
as building blocks and tools for nanotechnology. Viruses are exploited as
platforms
; that is, they are used as templates or scaffolds for the design of
novel nanomaterials. A wide variety of viral platforms have been studied and
utilized for applications ranging from materials to medicine. This chapter
will provide an introduction to the role of viral nanoparticles (VNPs) in
nanotechnology.
1.1 WhAt IS nAno?
Nanotechnology is a highly interdisciplinary field that brings together
researchers from different scientific backgrounds and has created a novel
common language. It is a collective term for a broad range of novel topics
concerned with matter on the nanometer scale. Nanotechnology sits at the
interface of biology, chemistry, physics, material science, and medicine.
Nanotechnology is found and applied in nearly every scientific area.
Nano
is a somewhat fashionable term; in common speech, it is used as
a prefix to denote something that is smaller than usual. As of this writing,
the term “
search of the term
“nano.” The word nano is derived from the ancient Greek word for dwarf.
In a scientific context the prefix nano is used to describe “a billionth of
something.” A nanometer is a billionth of a meter (10
Apple iPod nano
” is the first hit on a
Google
−9
m = 1 nm), and a
nanosecond is a billionth of a second (10
s = 1 ns).
Figure 1.1 illustrates how tiny nano is. An aphid insect (Fig. 1.1,
panel A) is about 1 mm in size. The aphid is about 1,000,000 times bigger
than a nanometer. Human hairs (Fig. 1.1, panel B) have an average diameter
−9
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