Nanomedicine…hype? Or a real revolution in healthcare?

After Bremen, I will then be heading to London to attend a public debate on nanomedicine, which is organised by the Institute of Nanotechnology. Again, I look forward to attending and I am sure that this debate will be a very good chance to meet new interesting people (the panel of invited speakers obviously promises that!) and to widely discuss ethical issues of nanomedicine and experience new ideas on public engagement.

This event is part of the conference and exhibition “Investing in Medical Nanotechnologies II” which takes place at the Royal College of Surgeons on 28 and 29 November 2007.

Further info on the public debate is available here.

Upcoming events: Nanosolutions 2007

This month proves to be really busy in terms of events that I plan to attend. Well, first I am heading to Frankfurt/Main, Germany, to attend a one-day conference which takes place as part of the NanoSolutions 2007 and I am very much looking forward to going there. Here’s a short outline what it’s about:

Sustainability in Nanotechnology

Products of Today and Tomorrow and their likely Societal Implications

November 23rd, 2007, Frankfurt.

Morning session: Opening talk and Products of today

• 9:00
  Welcome Introduction, Dr. Stephan Haubold, SDH-Consult
• 9:05 – 9:50
  Opening Talk
  Title: Green Nanotechnology – new challenge or business as usual?
  Dr. Astrid E. Schwarz, Assistant Professor, Institute for Philosophy, Technical University, Darmstadt
• 9:50 – 10:20br /> Title: Nano and Enviroment: protection and pollution
  Paul Borm, Ph.D. CEO, Borm Life Sciences to Business (BLIS2B BV)
  Professor in Toxicology (HHU Düsseldorf) and Lecturer in Life Sciences at Zuyd University Heerlen, The Netherlands
• 10:20 – 10:50
  Title: Efficient inorganic nano-particles-functions, application, production and outlook Speaker: Prof. Wolf-Dieter Griebler, CEO Sachtleben, Duisburg
• 10:50 – 11:20
  Coffee and Tea Break
• 11:20 – 11:50
  Title: Simple but effective: the enabling role of nanozeolite moisture absorbers in photovoltaics, thin-film electronics and pharmaceutical packaging Speaker: Dr. Wayne Daniell, CEO NanoScape AG, München
• 11:50- 12:20
  Title: Atomic scale metrology and prototyping enabling „nano-„ solutions for mankind Speaker: Dr. Rob H.J. Fastenau, Executive Vice President, Marketing and Technology, FEI Electron Optics BV, Eindhoven, The Netherlands
• 12:20 – 13:30
  Lunch Break

Afternoon Sessions: Visionary Products and their likely societal implications

• 13:30 – 14:00
  Opening Talk
  Title: Nanotechnology and Creativity and their economical and societal implications Dr Zvi Yaniv, Applied Nanotech, Inc., Texas, USA
• 14:00 – 14:30
  Title: Cryo-Nanobiotechnology: Nanotechnology for the banking of frozen living cells Prof. Heiko Zimmermann, IBMT, St. Ingbert
• 14:30 – 15:00
  Title: New enabling technologies based on polysilazanes contributing to modern energy resources Dr. Sandra Stojanovic, Businessdevelopment, Clariant Advanced Materials, Frankfurt
• 15:00 – 15:30
  Coffee Break
• 15:30 – 16:00
  Title: Nanotribology and their influence on industrial processes
  Michael Jung, COO Nanogate AG, Saarbrücken
• 16:00- 16:30
  Title: Nanotech at Bayer – Chances and Challenges along the Value Chain
  Dr. Peter Krüger, Head of Bayer Working Group Nanotechnology, Bayer MaterialScience AG, Leverkusen
• 16:30 – 17:00
  Closing Remarks

After Frankfurt I am off to Bremen, Germany, to attend a conference which focuses on science journalism: Wissenswerte Bremen.

nanonow

The Institute of Nanotechnology has just released the third issue of NanoNow free for download on www.nanonow.org.

This issue is themed upon ‘Nanotechnology and the Environment’,  and includes:

• The future of life on earth
  - Ian Pearson asks what limits there are to life
• A leaf out of nature’s book
  - Michael Graetzel reveals his passion for solar cells
• 21st century fashion
  - Nanotech and eco-friendly fashion
• What’s new in nano?
  - Keep up with the latest news
• Polish potential
  - Going nano in Poland
• Global warming
  - Nanoscientists take it on

research

As outlined before, my research focuses on ethical and social aspects of nanotechnology and I am mainly interested to look at nano in the frame of nanomedicine and “nanofoods”. These are, in my believe, the issues which raise most controversial discussions as they might contain greatest benefits for society and the individual but also various unknown and unassessed risks. Learning from the GM-debate a stringent regulatory approach but also early public involvement will be of great value.

Nanomedicine in particular offers a wide range of benefits but also raises as many questions as outlined before. I was recently discussing with some fellow students about the benefits of prolonged life and non-existance of diseases (meaning that nanomedicine will be able to cure most diseases…). Actually, I don’t think that having the chance to living a longer and healthy life will increase people’s happiness (I will get back to this later…). Another most important aspect of this high technology medicine is the issue of predictive medicine and diagnostic processes. But again, I will refer to this in detail at a later stage.

NanoBio-Raise

Last week I attended the advanced course on Public Communication and Applied Ethics of Nanotechnology in Oxford. Although I have some background in the area of media engagement of nanotechnology, including my Masters dissertation, this course was actually a very good “starting point” for my PhD research! It offered a very diverse view on nano by engaging lecturers and participants from various scientific backgrounds but also journalists and other media professionals. the course has been truly inspirational and I think all of us found it hard to stop discussing about scientific and ethical aspects of nano after this week. I met a whole load of new interesting people, which, and thus I am sure, I haven’t seen for the last time! 

Nothing is more amazing than truth
nothing more exotic than our environment
nothing more phantastic than reality …
(Egon Erwin Kisch)