This issue of Nano Today focuses on bionanotechnology, with review articles on biomolecuar motors and bionanofabrication. However, the issue is bookended by different, but related, news stories.
On page 51, we report news of the death from cancer, at the age of 62, of Rice University's Richard Smalley, the 1996 Nobel Prize laureate for the discovery of the C60 (buckyball) fullerene molecule. On page 19, we report the many grants awarded recently by US government agencies. The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has granted, through its Nanomedicine Roadmap Initiative, $42 million to establish four Nanomedicine Development Centers as well as, through its National Cancer Institute, $35 million to found 12 Cancer Nanotechnology Platforms Partnerships and $26.3 million to establish seven Centers of Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence (as part of its Alliance for Nanotechnology in Cancer). Also, the NIH and the National Science Foundation (NSF) have jointly granted $12.8 million for science and engineering postgraduates to undertake interdisciplinary cancer research. Much of this funding stems from the $1 billion-a-year National Nanotechnology Initiative, which was launched in 2000 in part owing to Smalley's testimony to the US House of Representatives the previous year on the prospective benefits of nanotechnology.
As well as pure research, Smalley was also active in commercializing fullerenes. In 2000, he cofounded Carbon Nanotechnologies to develop carbon nanotube manufacturing. He was also a scientific adviser to the start-up company C Sixty on the biopharmaceutical applications of fullerenes.
However, a potential brake on the mass-market adoption of nanotechnology is public concern about the impact on health and safety of fullerene nanoparticles such as C60 buckyballs and carbon nanotubes, particularly with regard to their toxicity. Hence, there are many efforts at public outreach. Most recently, the NSF has granted $20 million as part of its Nanoscale Science and Engineering Education program to set up a Nanoscale Informal Science Education network and over $11 million to found Centers for Nanotechnology in Society to inform the public about nanotechnology and address social issues. However, now Rice University's own Center for Biological and Environmental Nanotechnology (CBEN) has found that not only buckyballs but also carbon nanotubes can be rendered nontoxic to human skin cells by minor chemical modification of the molecules' surfaces (see page 7). This opens up the possibility of making these nanomaterials biocompatible for medical applications.
In fact, the application of nanotechnology for biomedical detection and diagnosis will form the theme of Nano Today's first issue of 2006. We are also moving from three issues a year to four, allowing us to also cover topics on the environment, cells and molecules, and energy.
Indeed, Smalley's most recent concern was promoting the use of nanotechnology to solve ‘humanity's number-one problem’ – the need for cheap, clean energy. His NASA-funded Armchair Quantum Wire project at Rice, begun in April, aims to achieve a continuous cable of nanotubes that could conduct electricity ten times better than Cu, enabling vastly more efficient distribution. So, while cancer claimed Smalley before he could see the nanotechnology revolution that he helped kick-start bear its full fruits, the legacy of his work and its consequences for healthcare, energy, and the environment may yet benefit the quality of life of millions of others.