How our invisible body affects our health: from Nanoparticles to Bugs

Our skin is our largest and most exposed organ, and within it millions of microorganisms live amongst our human skin cells. These microorganisms have an important role in maintaining the health of the skin. As hygiene and sanitation have improved over the last 150 years the rate of death by infectious diseases has fallen but the rate of inflammatory diseases such as hand eczema have increased. We will explore the life of the microbiome as the health of the skin changes.

Nanotechnology is a cool field of science that deals with really tiny things. Imagine seeing and controlling atoms and molecules, the building blocks of everything. It works with things that are less than 0.00001 cm in size. Most often, nanotechnology in medicine refers to nanoparticles. Nanoparticles have unique physical properties making them ideal for use in biomedical applications, and a large portion of nanoparticle research is focused on cancer therapies. Join me to explore some nanomedicines being developed at the Institute of Cancer Therapeutics.