LES NANOTECHNOLOGIES, QUELS ENJEUX DANS LES DOMAINES DES SCIENCES DE LA VIE ET DE LA SANTÉ

Nanotechnologies have invaded our personal environment a long time ago but their contribution in the fields of life sciences and health are more recent, less frequent and essentially promises to come. We will see that the miniaturization possibilities offered by these technologies allows very attractive perspectives for in vitro diagnostic or the conception of implantable medical devices with the capacity to monitor our organism or to restore deficient physiological functions. In addition, nanoparticles can be efficiently used to treat therapeutic targets like tumors. If these technologies give rise to justified hopes they also create some concerns for a part of the population. As far as medical application are concerned, these fears are not justified because the products devoted to medical applications are subjected to very strict regulation taking into account the balance between risk and medical benefits