World Nano 2024 | Hybrid Event

If only for a nanosecond, it is time to stop, reflect, and develop a plan forward !

Can you believe it ? The U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative was announced by President Bill Clinton in 2000 ! Over two decades ago ! With many countries around the world quickly following, this effort significantly increased funding and research activity in nanotechnology propelling the field into the spotlight. I remember jealous researchers claiming nanotechnology was all hype and saying “Just wait a nanosecond. Nanotechnology will pass like the trend it is" – some of those same envious researchers are still around today (usually on social media, not at conferences debating) hurting all of research. Envious that they missed the “nano-boat” !

Instead, very quickly thereafter, world class researchers improved products for construction, alternative energy, batteries, space exploration, and health (just to name a few). In my personal journey, I started nanomedicine in the mid to late 1990s, building new orthopedic implants out of nanoparticles. My research team showed greater bone growth when doing so. We quickly then demonstrated the ability to decrease infection and inflammation when using just nanoparticles, avoiding the use of drugs (such as antibiotics that bacteria have since developed a resistance to). I’m glad our research didn’t contribute to that ! Then, we were off to killing cancer cells, fighting auto-immune diseases, and destroying SARS-CoV-2.

Jump forward 24 years and we can easily see the impact that nanotechnology has made in our lives. From more efficient cars to planes light enough to be powered by electricity alone to vaccines that helped us get out of COVID, nanotechnology is everywhere. But where exactly have we been ? What have we accomplished ? Do you know that many researchers (some of the same envious researchers mentioned above) don’t even know that nanomaterials are in humans today improving their health proving the strong science behind such advances ? I know since I lived it ! Nanotechnology. A proven science.

But where is nanotechnology going ? I have heard murmurs around picotechnology ? Even smaller dimensions ? The role of artificial intelligence (AI) in automating nanotechnology ? What about nanosensors ? So many future directions !

As with any technology growing at the speed of light, it is so important to take a moment. Stop. Reflect.  What have we learned ? What did we all miss ? And most importantly, where are we going ?

I encourage you to attend World Nano 2024 and I welcome you to World Nano 2024 where we will stop. Reflect. And collectively develop a path forward.

The next 24 years starts now.

Can’t wait to see what we all develop !

6th Edition of World Nanotechnology Conference, April 24-26, 2023 | Orlando, USA

It is my great pleasure to write a Welcome Message for all the delegates and participants of the 6^th Edition of World Nanotechnology Conference, to be held during April 24 – 26, 2023, in Orlando, USA. 

The prefix “nano” stems from the ancient Greek for “dwarf”. In science, it means one billionth (10^-9) of a meter, that means, one nano-meter (nm) is ~ 40,000 times smaller than the thickness of a human hair. A virus is typically 100 nm in size. Therefore, Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the atomic and molecular scale to create materials with remarkably varied and new properties. Nanotechnology is a rapidly expanding area of research with enormous potential in many sectors, ranging from healthcare to construction, nano-magnetism to spintronics, opto-electronics to photonics, quantum optics to quantum computation, microbiology to medicine, food processing to functional food development, detection of food pathogens to food safety, etc. Everyone encounters nanotechnology in a range of daily consumer products, for example, antimicrobial properties of silver nanoparticles are used in hand washes, bandages, socks, etc.

The ability to manipulate structures and properties at the nanoscale in medicine is like having a sub-microscopic lab-bench on which one can handle cell components, viruses or pieces of DNA, using a range of tiny tools, robots and tubes, thus revolutionizing drug delivery, gene therapy, diagnostics, and many more areas of research, development and clinical application. By building nano-robots that can “walk” and carry out repairs inside cell components, nanotechnology is bringing that scientific dream closer to reality. Therefore, given the promise of nanotechnology, the scientific race is on to harness its potential - and to profit from it.

The 6^th Edition of World Nanotechnology Conference (World Nano 2023), to be held during April 24 – 26, 2023 in Orlando, USA is going to a unique meeting encompassing almost all branches of nanoscience, such as life sciences and nano-medicines, nanobiotechnology and safety, energy and environment, nano engineering, biomaterials, nanometrology, carbon nanotechnology, nano-photonics, computational modelling, wet nanotechnology, vaccines and medicines for coronavirus, etc. World Nano 2023 will be an exceptional platform for exchanging the prospective ideas and views of a bunch of global experts and prominent researchers amongst the budding scientists, research scholars, technologists and industrialists all over the world. I convey my heartiest greetings to the organizers, delegates and participants of the conference on this occasion and wish the confluence a great success!