Artificial Intelligence, Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology- The three driving forces of 21st century medicine.
The medical field has gone through immense growth in the last 50 years. Be it microfluidic lab-on-a-chip diagnostic devices or robotic surgeries, modern medicine is accelerating at the speed of light. But what are the forces behind this feat? The answer is interdisciplinary research; the three main disciplines being artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
One cannot deny the fact that we are living in the era of AI considering this year's Nobel Prize in both chemistry and physics. AI is undoubtedly revolutionizing every corner of modern society, especially the medical field. From medical imaging to protein structure prediction, AI has become an increasingly important tool for diagnosis and for finding novel therapeutic targets. Some of the applications of AI include the following:
Medical imaging: Deep learning, mainly the convolutional neural networks (CNNs) based image processing algorithms are regularly used for analyzing the CT (computed tomography) scan, X-rays, PET (positron emission tomography), and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) images. U-net, GANs (generative adversarial networks) for image analysis, and YOLO (You Only Look Once) for object detection (e.g., tumor detection) are some of the common deep learning technologies in the medical diagnosis field.
Electronic health records (EHR): AI can combine data from medical image analysis with patients' medical history. As a result, it forms a personalized database for every patient.
Predictive analysis: AI can also compare the data of EHR with previous datasets from other patients for early detection of diseases.
Improved accuracy and efficiency: AI improves the accuracy of diagnosis as it is devoid of manual errors while analyzing large amounts of data. Besides, the fast-paced AI-based detection also increases the efficiency of the diagnosis.
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology in medicine/nanomedicine is another rapidly evolving field that mainly uses extremely small nanoscale particles (1-100 nm) for imaging, precise drug delivery, biosensing, theranostics, regenerative medicine, etc. Nanoparticles have a higher surface area to volume ratio leading to their increased activity (increased magnetic, optical, catalytic activity, etc.) than conventional materials. This property is exploited in different areas of nanomedicine. There are different types of nanoparticles like metal nanoparticles, quantum dots, carbon-based nanoparticles (e.g., C-dot), liposomes, hydrogels, etc. 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognized the potential of quantum dots, a nanoparticle that is used in electronics as well as has huge potential to transform medical imaging due to their high contrast and photostability although their biocompatibility is still an issue. Nevertheless, several researches in nanomedicine are accelerating the field like never before and some of their applications include the following:
Targeted drug delivery: Biocompatible nanoparticles like liposomes, carbon nanotubes, C-dots, etc. are used for targeted drug delivery (by attaching cell-specific markers on their surface) to only affected cells minimizing the damage to the healthy cells.
Photodynamic therapy: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) uses light to excite photosensitizers to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) to destroy damaged cells (e.g., cancer cells). Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), silica nanoparticles, etc. are used in PDT.
Biosensors: Point-of-care devices have already been in the market for providing personalized diagnosis. Nanoparticles like carbon nanotubes, nanocantilevers, etc. are used for their high sensitivity.
Regenerative medicine: Suitable nanoparticle (e.g., graphene) scaffolds can help in repairing damaged tissue by regulating cell growth.
Medical imaging: Nanoparticles often work as high-contrast agents and they are also quite photostable. Iron oxide nanoparticles, quantum dots, Au-NPs are used in in vivo medical imaging for better diagnosis and to reduce the possibility of false negatives.
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a very diverse field that applies the principles of physics, chemistry, nanotechnology, statistics, and computer science in the field of biology. Medicine is one of the fields that has massively benefitted from this field. There are several applications of biotechnology in medicine. For example,
Molecular diagnosis: Several molecular biology techniques like polymerase chain reactions (PCR), ELISA, etc. are the basis of identifying biomarkers from diseased cells.
Recombinant insulin: Probably one of the best examples of recombinant-DNA technology is the cloning of the human insulin gene in E.coli to mass produce insulin for treating patients suffering from diabetes.
Vaccines: The COVID-19 vaccine (m-RNA vaccine) is one of the prime examples of biotechnology in medicine that even led to the 2023 Nobel Prize in medicine. Reverse genetics is another approach to understand viral infections that has helped a lot in producing vaccines for the influenza virus.
Gene therapy: Gene therapy is used to correct genetic disorders, and mutations by inserting correct gene sequences or by deleting defective DNA sequences. It holds quite a potential although there are some ethical concerns surrounding the process. Recently the UK approved CRISPR-Cas9 (the technology received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2020) gene therapy to treat sickle cell disease and thalassemia.
This is just a glimpse of what the techniques trio (AI, nanotechnology, and biotechnology) can offer for the diagnosis and treatment of complex diseases thereby propelling the 21st century medicine to new heights.
The medical field has gone through immense growth in the last 50 years. Be it microfluidic lab-on-a-chip diagnostic devices or robotic surgeries, modern medicine is accelerating at the speed of light. But what are the forces behind this feat? The answer is interdisciplinary research; the three main disciplines being artificial intelligence, biotechnology, and nanotechnology.
Artificial intelligence (AI)
One cannot deny the fact that we are living in the era of AI considering this year's Nobel Prize in both chemistry and physics. AI is undoubtedly revolutionizing every corner of modern society, especially the medical field. From medical imaging to protein structure prediction, AI has become an increasingly important tool for diagnosis and for finding novel therapeutic targets. Some of the applications of AI include the following:
Medical imaging: Deep learning, mainly the convolutional neural networks (CNNs) based image processing algorithms are regularly used for analyzing the CT (computed tomography) scan, X-rays, PET (positron emission tomography), and MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) images. U-net, GANs (generative adversarial networks) for image analysis, and YOLO (You Only Look Once) for object detection (e.g., tumor detection) are some of the common deep learning technologies in the medical diagnosis field.
Electronic health records (EHR): AI can combine data from medical image analysis with patients' medical history. As a result, it forms a personalized database for every patient.
Predictive analysis: AI can also compare the data of EHR with previous datasets from other patients for early detection of diseases.
Improved accuracy and efficiency: AI improves the accuracy of diagnosis as it is devoid of manual errors while analyzing large amounts of data. Besides, the fast-paced AI-based detection also increases the efficiency of the diagnosis.
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology in medicine/nanomedicine is another rapidly evolving field that mainly uses extremely small nanoscale particles (1-100 nm) for imaging, precise drug delivery, biosensing, theranostics, regenerative medicine, etc. Nanoparticles have a higher surface area to volume ratio leading to their increased activity (increased magnetic, optical, catalytic activity, etc.) than conventional materials. This property is exploited in different areas of nanomedicine. There are different types of nanoparticles like metal nanoparticles, quantum dots, carbon-based nanoparticles (e.g., C-dot), liposomes, hydrogels, etc. 2023 Nobel Prize in chemistry recognized the potential of quantum dots, a nanoparticle that is used in electronics as well as has huge potential to transform medical imaging due to their high contrast and photostability although their biocompatibility is still an issue. Nevertheless, several researches in nanomedicine are accelerating the field like never before and some of their applications include the following:
Targeted drug delivery: Biocompatible nanoparticles like liposomes, carbon nanotubes, C-dots, etc. are used for targeted drug delivery (by attaching cell-specific markers on their surface) to only affected cells minimizing the damage to the healthy cells.
Photodynamic therapy: Photodynamic therapy (PDT) uses light to excite photosensitizers to produce reactive oxygen species (ROS) to destroy damaged cells (e.g., cancer cells). Gold nanoparticles (Au-NPs), single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), silica nanoparticles, etc. are used in PDT.
Biosensors: Point-of-care devices have already been in the market for providing personalized diagnosis. Nanoparticles like carbon nanotubes, nanocantilevers, etc. are used for their high sensitivity.
Regenerative medicine: Suitable nanoparticle (e.g., graphene) scaffolds can help in repairing damaged tissue by regulating cell growth.
Medical imaging: Nanoparticles often work as high-contrast agents and they are also quite photostable. Iron oxide nanoparticles, quantum dots, Au-NPs are used in in vivo medical imaging for better diagnosis and to reduce the possibility of false negatives.
Biotechnology
Biotechnology is a very diverse field that applies the principles of physics, chemistry, nanotechnology, statistics, and computer science in the field of biology. Medicine is one of the fields that has massively benefitted from this field. There are several applications of biotechnology in medicine. For example,
Molecular diagnosis: Several molecular biology techniques like polymerase chain reactions (PCR), ELISA, etc. are the basis of identifying biomarkers from diseased cells.
Recombinant insulin: Probably one of the best examples of recombinant-DNA technology is the cloning of the human insulin gene in E.coli to mass produce insulin for treating patients suffering from diabetes.
Vaccines: The COVID-19 vaccine (m-RNA vaccine) is one of the prime examples of biotechnology in medicine that even led to the 2023 Nobel Prize in medicine. Reverse genetics is another approach to understand viral infections that has helped a lot in producing vaccines for the influenza virus.
Gene therapy: Gene therapy is used to correct genetic disorders, and mutations by inserting correct gene sequences or by deleting defective DNA sequences. It holds quite a potential although there are some ethical concerns surrounding the process. Recently the UK approved CRISPR-Cas9 (the technology received the Nobel Prize in chemistry in 2020) gene therapy to treat sickle cell disease and thalassemia.
This is just a glimpse of what the techniques trio (AI, nanotechnology, and biotechnology) can offer for the diagnosis and treatment of complex diseases thereby propelling the 21st century medicine to new heights.