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Nanoscience
P. Boisseau
P. Houdy
M. Lahmani
(Eds.)
Nanoscience
Nanobiotechnology and Nanobiology
With 628 Figures and 40 Tables
123
Editors
Patrick Boisseau
CEA
LETI-MINATEC
17 rue des martyrs
38054 Grenoble CX 9
France
patrick.boisseau@cea.fr
Prof. Philippe Houdy
Université d’Evry
bd. F. Mitterrand
91025 Evry CX
France
philippe.houdy@univ-evry.fr
Marcel Lahmani
Université d’Evry
Dépt. Sciences des Matériaux
rue du père Jarlan
91025 Evry CX
France
marcel.lahmani@univ-evry.fr
Translation from the French language edition of
“Les nanosciences – 3. Nanobiotechnologies et nanobiologie”
c
2007 Editions Belin, France
ISBN 978-3-540-88632-7
e-ISBN 978-3-540-88633-4
DOI 10.1007/978-3-540-88633-4
Springer Heidelberg Dordrecht London New York
Library of Congress Control Number: 2009926250
c
Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2010
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Foreword to the French Edition
The Living Nanoworld
The slogan ‘small is beautiful’ is perfectly suited to the eld of biology. The
human body is composed of about ve thousand billion cells, each of which
functions by virtue of a whole range of nanoscale phenomena and nanoma-
chines. The perfect harmony of the information systems and molecular devices
at work in our cells is today a fertile source of inspiration for scientists engaged
in the development of nanotechnology and nanomaterials. Within a volume
of a few picoliters, DNA stores absolutely all the genetic information required
to program embryonic development, cell dierentiation, and the functioning
of living organisms. It also contains all the machinery and molecular systems
needed to replicate this information and distribute it to daughter cells during
cell division. Exchanges between the interior of a cell and its environment,
but also between the dierent compartments of a given cell, occur via a whole
system of complex valves with nely tuned aperture, the ion channels. ATP,
the molecular form of chemical energy storage, is synthesised by micromotors
in which the rotor is turned by a ow of protons. Convoys purvey the con-
stituents of cells in every direction through a dense network of microtubules
and microlaments. Bacteria, protozoans, and the cells of metazoans move
themselves around by means of a range of dierent types of motors, agella,
or microhelices.
Naturally, these biological nanomachines constitute a wonderful source of
inspiration for research scientists keen to reproduce their achievements for
scientic or industrial purposes. One aim is to perfect methods for explor-
ing the ultimate structure of biological objects: DNA, protein, or cell chips,
nanoparticles revolutionising the eld of microscopy; optical tweezers for mi-
cromanipulating nanoscale entities or measuring the forces acting on them.
Several types of bioassay can today be brought together in a nanolaboratory,
or lab-on-a-chip, with astonishing properties.
One of the challenges in this kind of exploration of the cellular nanoworld,
when using some of its solutions to achieve the same level of performance, is
VI
Foreword to the French Edition
to build molecular nanorobots capable of carrying out investigative tasks or
medical treatment in the inner workings of the human body, if not within the
cells themselves.
In the third volume of this series devoted to the nanosciences, readers
will realise with amazement and wonder just how ingenious are the molecu-
lar systems retained by natural selection. No doubt they will then share the
hopes and aspirations of the present authors to devise ways for humankind to
design
de novo
nanomachines imitating biological systems, with a view to un-
derstanding those systems better and where necessary nding solutions when
they malfunction; in a word, with a view to ghting illness.
Institut Cochin
Axel Kahn
IFR Alfred Jost
August 2007
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