Page 4 - My FlipBook

Chapter Two

Nanotechnology:

Marshaling the

Very Tiny

In 2014 scientists at Clemson University in South Caro-
lina were hard at work on a project they hoped would
save many lives in both the near and far future. They
were painfully aware that the US Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC) had estimated a yearly
death toll from heart disease in the United States alone
of more than 600,000. They also knew that the principal
cause of heart disease is damaged or clogged arteries,
particularly the ones lying near the heart. Clearing those
clogged arteries has traditionally most often required
large, invasive, risky heart surgeries or other involved
procedures. So the Clemson researchers hoped to fi nd
a different, less invasive approach.
The approach the team’s members decided to
pursue was extremely cutting-edge and involved a
new, exotic technology. They developed nanoparti-
cles that they hoped would be able to carry life-saving
medicine to clogged or damaged arteries, which if
successful would eliminate the need for any surgical
procedures. Nanoparticles are extremely tiny objects
that scientists measure in nanometers (abbreviated as
nm). One nanometer is equal to 1 billionth of a meter, or
about one 300-millionth of a foot. Thus nanotechnology

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