Healthcare companies are thinking small, extremely small, to develop what they hope will be the next big thing.Nanotechnology -- the use of particles much tinier than cells -- is emerging as a powerful complement to biotechnology, nanotech experts said.

It's an area that promises to make drug delivery, diagnosis and treatment of diseases like cancer more efficient by enabling therapies to target only harmful cells, be absorbed in the bloodstream better and slip past immune-system responses that trigger toxic side effects.

Nanotechnologies also have the potential to improve diagnostics by creating new ways of imaging and assessing the states of the body based on properties unique to nanoscale materials, said Jason Robert, assistant life-sciences professor at Arizona State University in Tempe.

Another category ripe for nano improvement is implants, Robert said. Nanoparticles may make implants more stable and long-lasting. In drugs, nanoparticles may be able to pass the blood-brain barrier, allowing for better therapies for a host of neurological ailments.

Nanotech has been around for several decades but has been concentrated in industrial products such as automotive coatings, said Joseph DeSimone, a chemistry and chemical engineering professor at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill.

Scientists are taking techniques used in electronics manufacturing and translating them to medicine, where breakthroughs using nanotech with organic chemistry are laying the groundwork for major developments, said DeSimone, who co-founded Liquidia Technologies in Research Triangle Park, N.C.

( www.marketwatch.com)