ABSTRACT
Nanometer-sized objects have attracted enormous attention in recent years. Especially in the fi eld of (bio)medical sciences, advances in nanotechnology have been promising, in terms of the potential benefi ts they might provide to improve disease diagnosis and therapy. Strictly speaking, nanotechnology relates to the study of objects smaller than 1 µm. However, most nanomaterials used for biomedical purposes have sizes less than 100 nm in diameter. Nanomaterials used for diagnostic or therapeutic applications are generally termed nanomedicines, and nanomaterials in which diagnostic and therapeutic applications are combined are routinely referred to as nanotheranostics.
