Nanotechnology is beginning to revolutionise almost every area of medicine. Research at the nanoscale provides us with an ever greater understanding of how the human body works and how diseases develop.

Implementation of this knowledge in terms of new medical products and treatments, however, also requires the development of new generations of medical nanomaterials (a nanomaterial is defined as a material with one or more external dimensions, or an internal structure, on the nanoscale. The "nanoscale" is generally considered to be from 1 to 100nm). Equally, nanotechnology may be used to add novel properties to existing materials to impart novel characteristics that may be useful in the fields of diagnosis, imaging, drug delivery or surgery.

Nanotechnology may be applied to almost any type of material to create new materials, particles or surfaces that exhibit new characteristics characteristic of the nanoscale. This may result, for example, in new types of particles that are able to encapsulate tiny quantities of a drug and transport it to its target site, or a surface for an implant that imparts improved biocompatibility with the human body or which facilitates the growth, differentiation or adhesion of cell. Equally, nanoscale materials may offer greatly improved imaging media, better microsurgical instruments, diagnostic devices that can operate with just picolitres of analyte or novel scaffolds that cells can grow on for the production of engineered human tissues or organs.