Nanosystems Engineers
In 2020, various forms of cancer caused the deaths of nearly 10 million people, on top of more than 20 million people currently living with the disease around the world. What makes cancer such a deadly disease is how hard it is to detect in a patient at an early stage, since diagnostic techniques based on various medical imaging technologies (X-rays and the like) aren't able to see cancerous tumors at the very start of the disease — because they affect extremely tiny tissues and cells in the body, and known medical techniques can only detect them once they've grown large enough, which means the cancer has already spread significantly through the body. In recent years, a number of experts and researchers have developed new techniques that help detect cancer at an early stage, which has helped a great many patients recover. Researchers have equipped diagnostic tools and devices with new technology based on what's called "nanotechnology." Nanotechnology is a term referring to particles of matter that are extremely small, ranging in size from 1 to 100 nanometers — a nanometer being a unit of measurement equal to one millionth of a millimeter. Do you know what that means? It means these nanoparticles are hundreds of times smaller than a single cell, which allows diagnostic tools and devices equipped with them to see not just cancerous cells, but the affected tissue inside a single cell. Nanotechnology is considered a revolution in the history of science — these extremely tiny nanoparticles, synthesized in labs from various naturally occurring materials, can completely change human life. They're not just used in medicine for precise diagnosis — researchers have also developed them for use in drugs, medications, and various treatment methods, since they can be used to precisely target the tissues and cells affected by any disease without impacting any healthy neighboring cells, which means the side effects of medications can be eliminated. Nanoparticles are now used in products across most sectors — they're found in the automotive, aerospace, electronics, energy, and textile industries, among others, since various products now need them for different purposes, whether for added precision, lightness, strength, or other qualities. From this you can appreciate the importance of what researchers who synthesize and develop different nanoparticles in labs and research centers do. The researchers working in this field are called "nanotechnology engineers," and it's their work we'll discuss in the lines ahead.
Meet the Writer: Waleed Abo Omiraa
What You'll Actually Do
The core tasks and responsibilities that fill a typical day.
- Write proposals to secure external funding or to partner with other companies.
- Supervise technologists or technicians engaged in nanotechnology research or production.
- Synthesize, process, or characterize nanomaterials, using advanced tools or techniques.
- Identify new applications for existing nanotechnologies.
- Provide technical guidance or support to customers on topics such as nanosystem start-up, maintenance, or use.
- Generate high-resolution images or measure force-distance curves, using techniques such as atomic force microscopy.
- Prepare reports, deliver presentations, or participate in program review activities to communicate engineering results or recommendations.
- Develop processes or identify equipment needed for pilot or commercial nanoscale scale production.
- Provide scientific or technical guidance or expertise to scientists, engineers, technologists, technicians, or others, using knowledge of chemical, analytical, or biological processes as applied to micro and nanoscale systems.
- Engineer production processes for specific nanotechnology applications, such as electroplating, nanofabrication, or epoxy.
- Design or conduct tests of new nanotechnology products, processes, or systems.
- Coordinate or supervise the work of suppliers or vendors in the designing, building, or testing of nanosystem devices, such as lenses or probes.
- Design or engineer nanomaterials, nanodevices, nano-enabled products, or nanosystems, using three-dimensional computer-aided design (CAD) software.
- Create designs or prototypes for nanosystem applications, such as biomedical delivery systems or atomic force microscopes.
- Conduct research related to a range of nanotechnology topics, such as packaging, heat transfer, fluorescence detection, nanoparticle dispersion, hybrid systems, liquid systems, nanocomposites, nanofabrication, optoelectronics, or nanolithography.
- Apply nanotechnology to improve the performance or reduce the environmental impact of energy products, such as fuel cells or solar cells.
- Design nano-enabled products with reduced toxicity, increased durability, or improved energy efficiency.