2 Nanotechnology and its applications to healthcare Ralph C. Merkle, Ph.D. Principal Fellow

3 The overheads (in PowerPoint) are available on the web at: France ppt Slides on web

4 Ninth Foresight Conference on Molecular Nanotechnology November 9-11, 2001 Santa Clara, California Introductory tutorial November 8 Foresight

5 Gatherings

6 Health, wealth and atoms

7 Arranging atoms Diversity Precision Cost

8 Richard Feynman,1959 There’s plenty of room at the bottom

9 1980’s, 1990’s Binnig and Rohrer Experiment and theory

10 President Clinton, 2000 “Imagine the possibilities: materials with ten times the strength of steel and only a small fraction of the weight -- shrinking all the information housed at the Library of Congress into a device the size of a sugar cube -- detecting cancerous tumors when they are only a few cells in size.” The National Nanotechnology Initiative

11 Arrangements of atoms. Today Overview

12 The goal. Overview

13 Core molecular manufacturing capabilities Today Products Overview

14 Positional assembly

15 Experimental 100 microns

16 H. J. Lee and W. Ho, SCIENCE 286, p. 1719, NOVEMBER 1999 Experimental

17 Theoretical

18 PropertyDiamond’s valueComments Chemical reactivityExtremely low Hardness (kg/mm2)9000CBN: 4500 SiC: 4000 Thermal conductivity (W/cm-K)20Ag: 4.3 Cu: 4.0 Tensile strength (pascals)3.5 x 10 9 (natural)10 11 (theoretical) Compressive strength (pascals)10 11 (natural)5 x (theoretical) Band gap (ev)5.5Si: 1.1 GaAs: 1.4 Resistivity (W-cm)10 16 (natural) Density (gm/cm3)3.51 Thermal Expansion Coeff (K-1)0.8 x SiO2: 0.5 x Refractive 590 nmGlass: Coeff. of Friction0.05 (dry)Teflon: 0.05 Source: Crystallume Diamond physical properties What to make

19 Making diamond today Illustration courtesy of P1 Diamond Inc.

20 Hydrogen abstraction tool

21 Other molecular tools

22 Bearing

23 Planetary gear

24 Fine motion controller

25 Theoretical

26 Self replication A redwood tree (sequoia sempervirens) 112 meters tall Redwood National Park

27 The Von Neumann architecture Universal Computer Universal Constructor Self replication

28 Replicating bacterium DNA DNA Polymerase Self replication

29 Drexler’s proposal for an assembler Self replication

30 Von Neumann's constructor 500,000 Mycoplasma genitalia 1,160,140 Drexler's assembler 100,000,000 Complexity (bits)

31 Micro rotation

32 Exponential assembly

33 The impact of a manufacturing technology depends on what we manufacture Impact

34 We’ll have more computing power in the volume of a sugar cube than the sum total of all the computer power that exists in the world today More than bits in the same volume Almost a billion Pentiums in parallel Powerful Computers Impact

35 Disease and ill health are caused largely by damage at the molecular and cellular level Today’s surgical tools are huge and imprecise in comparison Impact Nanomedicine

36 In the future, we will have fleets of surgical tools that are molecular both in size and precision. We will also have computers much smaller than a single cell to guide those tools. Impact Nanomedicine

37 “Typical” mitochondrion ~1-2 by microns Size of a robotic arm ~100 nanometers Scale 8-bit computer

38 “Typical” cell: ~20 microns Mitochondrion Size of a robotic arm ~100 nanometers Scale 8-bit computer

39 Remove infections

40 Clear obstructions

41 Respirocyte

42 Today:preserve function Tomorrow:preserve structure A Revolution

43 Liquid nitrogen Time Temperature Cryonics

44 Would you rather join the control group or the experimental group? ( What to do?

45 “Thus, like so much else in medicine, cryonics, once considered on the outer edge, is moving rapidly closer to reality” ABC News World News Tonight, Feb 8 th “…[medical] advances are giving new credibility to cryonics.” KRON 4 News, NightBeat, May 3, 2001 Perception

46 By Robert Freitas, Zyvex Research Scientist Surveys medical applications of nanotechnology Volume I (of three) published in 1999 Theory Nanomedicine

47 Human impact on the environment depends on Population Living standards Technology The Vision

48 Restoring the environment with nanotechnology Low cost greenhouse agriculture Low cost solar power Pollution free manufacturing The Vision

49 Nanotechnology offers... possibilities for health, wealth, and capabilities beyond most past imaginings. K. Eric Drexler