ABSTRACT
In the past 2 decades, there has been an incredible growth in “nano”-related research. Nano refers to a world that is on the nanometer-length scale (<100 nm) in at least one dimension. Nanoscale building blocks are widely existent in the biological world and include molecules such as nucleic acids, proteins, and peptides. —ere are also a variety of nonbiological nanomaterials that exist, among which the most widely investigated for use in nanotechnology-based projects include semiconductor (e.g., quantum dots such as CdS, CdSe, and CdTe), silica, metallic (e.g., gold, silver, and platinum), magnetic (e.g., iron oxides), synthesized polymeric (e.g., poly(l-lactide), poly(hydroxybutyrate-co-hydroxyvalerate), and poly(lactic acid-co-glycolic acid)), and carbon-based (e.g., carbon nanotube, and fullerene derivatives) materials. —is chapter focuses on the nucleic acid-based nanobiomaterials. However, it is worth mentioning that the development of novel materials to integrate biological with nonbiological nanomaterials will have enormous potential in applications such as biosensors, nanoelectronics, nanorobotics, smart materials, drug delivery, and gene therapy.
