Abstract

Nanobiotechnology deal with problems related to the design, creation and characterization of materials, devices, and systems at the nanometer (1 to 100 nanometers) scale for their application in biomedical devices. The unusual properties of nano scale devices are exploited in biomedical applications in drug delivery, imaging and the treatment of illness at the cellular level. Here we present the implementation of a set of information technology tools to help characterize and design nanobiodevices at the molecular level. The Collaboratory for Structural Nanobiology (CSN) is a collection of IT services designed to satisfy the constraints imposed by the molecular characterization of nanobioparticles. The services implemented provide access to a system of databases containing downloadable structure and data files, related research data, and resources for visualization including sample data for several typical examples such as dendrimers, buckyballs, nanotubes and metallic particles.