[Nano-engineering for biomedical applications].

Abstract

Recently, medical applications of nanotechnology have received much attention. Among them, advances in polymer chemistry have significantly contributed to this field. Here, we review nano-engineering of functional polymers for diagnostic and therapeutic purposes, which have been carried out mainly by our group. Functional polymer-coated nanoparticles can be used for quick detection of biomarkers and DNA separation. Multiarray of hepatocyte spheroids on a microfabricated polymer-brush surface can maintain the hepatocyte viability and liver-specific functions, offering a new high-throughput screening method of pharmacologically and toxicologically active compounds for drug discovery. Polymeric micelles are promising drug carriers, of which the critical parameters such as the size, drug loading and release can be controlled by engineering the constituent block copolymers. Thus, polymeric nano-device will be the leading technology in this field.