Nanotechnology has many advantages when applied to medicine. At the nanometre scale, materials often exhibit surprisingly different physical, chemical and biological properties, compared to the very same material in bulk form.

The properties of nanoparticles, such as increased chemical activity and the ability to cross tissue barriers, are leading to new drug targeting and delivery techniques.

In the future, a nanoparticle or a set of nanoparticles may be designed to search for, find and destroy a single diseased cell, driving us ever closer to realising the ultimate goal of disease prevention.