How Nanotech Could Improve Medtech

Considerable progress has been made in miniaturizing medical devices, says James Marti, PhD, associate program director and senior scientist at the University of Minnesota Nano Center.

Nancy Crotti

Where is nanotechnology going to pop up next? Medical researchers are already using it for targeted drug treatments, imaging, wearables and implantables.

James Marti, PhD, associate program director and senior scientist at the University of Minnesota Nano Center, will speak on the opportunities for medtech design innovation through nanotechnology at Minnesota Medtech Week, November 4-5 in Minneapolis. We asked him to give us a sneak preview.

Qmed: How can nanotechnology improve medical device design?

Marti: We can make nanoparticles out of just about anything, and a number of them are useful for different therapies. Nanomaterials, like nanoparticles that are bioactive or medically useful, can be put into a patient and collect at a certain desired site to image it for diagnostics. Other particles will release an active drug when they reach a desired site. Still others can be heated by radio waves when they reach the desired site, to destroy diseased tissue.

You must select your materials very carefully to synthesize them for use as nanoparticles. You have to modify the surface of these particles so they will link up to the cells you want them to attach to. They go to the part of the body that needs them, passively.

Qmed: What are some opportunities for nanotechnology in wearables and implantables?

Marti: We can help design and build miniaturized devices with very low power requirements, which lend themselves to wearables. These can be made so small and energy efficient that you don't really need to power them. Some wearables can use self-powered "energy harvesting" to convert the patient's movement, breathing motion, or room heat to a very small amount of power that is sufficient to power the devices.

For example, an Elk River company called Cymbet Corp.has developed very small batteries that can be charged by things like vibrations or motions, such as walking across a room.

Nanotechnology is helping in the development of tiny implantables,      such as wires and electrodes for deep brain stimulation,which NASA and others have been working on. They not only need to shrink the implantable device, but make sure that the electrodes are addressing the correct nerves.

Researchers in our lab have fabricated very small wires and electrodes to specifically address nerve cells, which are 1-2 micrometers in size, compared to a human hair, which is 100 micrometers.

Qmed: What is on the horizon for nanotechnology in medical devices?

Marti: Considerable progress has been made in miniaturizing medical devices, and a great deal remains in the research stages. It's hard to say which devices are likely to make it out of the idea stage, but we're going to see continued advancement in miniaturized devices across the board, and this will find its way into medical devices designed for implantation.

It's promising that these technologies will be in a shape where surgeons and physicians will treat them more as a viable option. I think it's really refining and proving what we have already designed and built.

The field is conservative, because you aren't going to rapidly change to a new design.

(See Marti speak on the opportunities for medtech design innovation through nanotechnology at Minnesota Medtech Week, November 4-5 in Minneapolis.)

Nancy Crotti is a contributor to Qmed and MPMN.

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