Synthesis, characterization and application of nanoparticles in biology

Abstract

Nanoparticles are materials with at least one dimension in the range of 1-100 nm. When the size of matter is reduced to this scale materials gain some unique size dependent optical, electronic, magnetic, mechanical and surface properties. Recently, these unusual properties of nanomaterials have attracted immense attention of researchers from almost every field of science including biology and medicine. Investigation of novel properties of nanoparticles and their application has become very active area of research. Nanoparticles have shown tremendous potential for application in biomedical research. They are being extensively investigated for both analytical and therapeutic purposes in the areas of delivery of nucleic acids and drugs inside the cell, probes for spectroscopy and microscopy, applications in diagnostics and imaging etc.