Research & Training

Nanotechnology at NIH

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is defined as the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly 1 to 100 nanometers, a scale at which unique properties of materials emerge that can be used to develop novel technologies and products. At the nanoscale, the physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials differ from the properties of matter either at smaller scales, such as atoms, or at larger scales that we use in everyday life such as millimeters or inches. Nanotechnology involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and manipulating matter only a few nanometers in size.

What is Nanoscale? Watch the video: View page without animation

Animation in Flash (FLV - 6.3MB)

Animation in QuickTime (MOV - 29.7MB)

Innovative Medical Research at the Molecular Scale (PDF - 2.3MB)

New Understanding, New Capabilities, & New Approaches for Improving Health (PDF - 650KB)

Other Resources

Learn more about Nanotechnology at NIH (NIBIB)

Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine Applications for Vision (NEI)

Nanotechnology at NIH: Basic Concepts, Current Research, and Medical Applications (VIDEOCAST | 08:30:00 )
The all-day Nanotechnology Symposium offers an introduction to nanotechnology—what it is, what it isn’t, and how it impacts medicine with examples of major programs supported by NIH.

Symposium Agenda