Targeted Nanomedicine for Prevention and Treatment of Diseases

Targeted Nanotechnology has the potential to deliver multiple imaging and therapeutic agents to the "right place” at the “right time" thereby enhancing treatment outcome while reducing morbidity. This could dramatically improve treatment responses in several diseases, especially, cancer where the statistics have been, so far, dismal. Treatment specificity can be further improved by using remotely triggered therapeutic modalities like photodynamic therapy which involves the use of light to cause cell death. Nanotechnology also enables a novel approach to combination therapies by allowing target specific, intracellular delivery of multiple agents for rational mechanism-based combinations that can further enhance treatment outcome. Nanochemoprevention, which involves use of nanoparticles for delivery of chemopreventive agents, is an emerging field that has shown some promise for cancer prevention. On the whole nanotechnology. Applications of nanotechnology and nanomedicine for various applications towards prevention and treatment of diseases will be discussed in this talk.