Functional Bionanomaterials (eBook)

This book focuses on the application of nanotechnology in medicine and drug delivery, including diagnosis and therapy. Nanomedicine can contribute to the development of a personalized medicine both for diagnosis and therapy. By interacting with biological molecules at nanoscale level, nanotechnology opens up an immense field of research and applications. Interactions between artificial molecular assemblies or nanodevices and biomolecules can be understood both in the extracellular medium and inside human cells. Operating at nanoscale allows exploitation of physical properties different from those observed at microscale, such as the volume to surface area ratio.

A number of clinical applications of nanobiotechnology, such as disease diagnosis, target-specific drug delivery, and molecular imaging are being investigated. Some promising new products are also undergoing clinical trials. Such advanced applications of this approach to biological systems will undoubtedly transform the foundations of diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease in the future.

Nanomedicine sales reached $16 billion in 2015, with a minimum of $3.8 billion in nanotechnology R&D being invested each year. Global funding for emerging nanotechnology increased by 45% per year in recent years, with product sales exceeding $1 trillion in 2013. As the nanomedicine industry continues to grow, it is expected to have a significant impact on the global economy.

This book provides clear, colorful and simple illustrations, tables, and case studies to clearly convey the content to a general audience and reader. This book also discusses the development of nanobiomaterials from biogenic (biological sources) systems for healthcare and disease therapies. This book, therefore, is useful for researchers and academicians in the fields of nanotechnology, medicine, nano-biotechnology and pharmacology.

Devarajan Thangadurai is Assistant Professor at Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka, India. He received his PhD in Botany from Sri Krishnadevaraya University in South India as CSIR Senior Research Fellow with funding from the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India. He served as a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Madeira, Portugal, University of Delhi, India and ICAR National Research Centre for Banana, India. He is the recipient of the Best Young Scientist Award with a Gold Medal from Acharya Nagarjuna University, India and the VGST-SMYSR Young Scientist Award of the Government of Karnataka, Republic of India. He has authored and edited more than twenty five books with publishers of national/international reputation. He has also visited twenty three countries in Africa, Asia and Europe for academic visits, scientific meetings and international collaborations.

Jeyabalan Sangeetha is Assistant Professor in Central University of Kerala at Kasaragod, Kerala, India. She earned her BSc in Microbiology and PhD in Environmental Science from Bharathidasan University, Tiruchirappalli, Tamil Nadu, India. She holds an MSc in Environmental Science from Bharathiar University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India. She is the recipient of Tamil Nadu Government Scholarship and Rajiv Gandhi National Fellowship of University Grants Commission, Government of India for her doctoral studies. She served as Dr. D.S. Kothari Postdoctoral Fellow and UGC Postdoctoral Fellow at Karnatak University, Dharwad, Karnataka, India during 2012-2016 with funding from University Grants Commission, Government of India, New Delhi. Her research interests are in the fields of Environmental Toxicology, Environmental Microbiology, Environmental Biotechnology and Environmental Nanotechnology.

Ram Prasad is associated with Department of Botany, Mahatma Gandhi Central University, Motihari, Bihar, India. His research interest includes applied microbiology, plant-microbe-interactions, sustainable agriculture and nanobiotechnology. Dr. Prasad has more than one hundred and fifty publications to his credit, including research papers, review articles and book chapters, and five patents issued or pending and edited or authored several books. Dr. Prasad has 12 years of teaching experience, and he has been awarded the Young Scientist Award (2007), Prof. J.S. Datta Munshi Gold Medal (2009), FSAB Award (2010), American Cancer Society UICC International Fellowship for Beginning Investigators (2014), Outstanding Scientist Award (2015), BRICPL Science Investigator Award (2017) and Research Excellence Award (2018). He has been serving as editorial board members for Frontiers in Microbiology, Frontiers in Nutrition, Phyton - International Journal of Experimental Botany, Academia Journal of Biotechnology and Book Series Editor of Nanotechnology in the Life Sciences by Springer Nature. Previously, Dr. Prasad served as Assistant Professor, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh, India; Visiting Assistant Professor at Johns Hopkins University, USA and Research Associate Professor at Sun Yat-sen University, Guangzhou, China.