Nanotechnology within biomedical science is moving forward rapidly, and yet the vast majority of the public is still unaware of its true impacts and implications.
How many people know that, on a fairly prosaic level, nanoparticles are already in everyday use, enhancing the functionality of (for example) sun creams and sticking plasters? In tandem, rumours abound in the media of much more revolutionary advances, such as tiny machines that zip around one’s bloodstream killing viruses, but these are still far from being realised.
It is a top priority to develop a more mature and critical public perspective of this high technology research. One the one hand, the potential of nanotechnology to revolutionise a number of areas of science deserves wider public appreciation. On the other hand, the wide gap between scientific possibility and practical application must be effectively communicated if nanotechnology is not to become discredited in the public view. There is also a need to address the wilder scenarios of science fiction (such as “grey goo”) that might rouse public opposition to nanotechnology.
The objective of the residency, which this website is documenting, is to advance the public’s understanding of nanotechnology applied to nanomedicine through novel creative outputs. The artist’s fascination with biology and technology has steered her toward nanotechnology, where these worlds seem to collide.
The primary aim is for the artist to create new work surrounding nanotechnology developments within the health sector that has the potential to engage the public in new ways. The nano viewpoint applied to medicine implies scrutinizing its components at the molecular level. Thus, the nanotechnologist is interested in the arrangement of particular molecules on the outer membrane of living cells, and what that implies for their interaction with their environment. The aim of the artist in this project is to understand and then expound this nano viewpoint to the non-technologist and non-scientist.
The project has two strands:
1) The exploration and presentation of self-assembling nanosystems through artist-scientist collaboration. Self-assembly is one of the fundamental fabrication processes in nanotechnology (‘bottom-up’ nano manufacture). Most applications of nanotechnology will at some time in the future involve self-assembly.
2) The instigation of cross-disciplinary discussion at Cranfield University, leading to more effective dialogue with the public. Nanotechnology is inherently cross-disciplinary and is expected to impact on a huge number of fields, ranging from medicine to manufacture, and within these fields, to cut across many subdivisions. Particularly in nanomedicine, we note potential applications ranging from probing DNA structure through biodetection to self-assembled nanoscale robots.
This website is a collaboration between Jeremy J Ramsden, a Professor of Nanotechnolgy at Cranfield University, and Julie Freeman, Artist, and is supported by the Wellcome Trust Arts Award and Cranfield University.
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