Nanosystems for medical applications: Biological detection, drug delivery, diagnosis and therapy

A review. For a couple of decades, greater and greater connections have been made between nanotechnology, biology and medicine. After a rapid description of the particles most often used for biological and medical purposes, the review will detail their potential applications in both domains. In the field of biological detection, a large number of new detection systems is offered by noble metals and semi-conductors, which exhibit very specific nanometre-scale induced properties. In the field of diagnosis and therapeutic applications, particles become more and more sophisticated with an increased possibility of specific targeting, drug delivery triggering and combination of both diagnosis and therapy.