Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of extremely small things and can be used across all the other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering. The ideas and concepts behind nanoscience and nanotechnology started with a talk entitled “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at the California Institute of Technology (CalTech) on December 29, 1959, long before the term nanotechnology was used. In his talk, Feynman described a process in which scientists would be able to manipulate and control individual atoms and molecules. Over a decade later, in his explorations of ultraprecision machining, Professor Norio Taniguchi coined the term nanotechnology. Nanoscience and nanotechnology involve the ability to see and to control individual atoms and molecules.

Nanoparticles in Medicine. The use of nanotechnology in medicine offers some exciting possibilities. Some techniques are only imagined, while others are at various stages of testing, or actually being used today.

Drug Delivery. One application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells). Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells. This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease.

In This presentation, we will describe the development of encapsulation in polymeric nanoparticles and the targeted controlled delivery of therapeutic drugs for potential and effective minimally invasive cancer treatments. The experimental formulation parameters in the synthesis of drug-free PLGA nanoparticles were investigated, in order to find the best conditions of nanoparticle preparation. The effects of theoretical drug loadings over the nanoparticle characteristics were examined. The release of these drugs from PLGA nanoparticles was evaluated to determine the overall release profile characteristics. Preliminary research on the effective nanoparticle encapsulation and release of therapeutic proteins, was assessed with the encapsulation of IGF1 (Insulin-like Growth Factor-1) and its application in the regeneration of salivary glands function.