Nanotechnology advisory group set up in UK
safety, ethical and societal implications of nanotechnology has
appointed a working group to oversee the effort.
A UK programme aimed at identifying the environmental, health and safety, ethical and societal implications of nanotechnology has appointed a working group to oversee the effort.
Nanotechnology is of interest to the pharmaceutical industry because of its potential in drug discovery applications such as high-throughput screening, but also because it may offer improved treatment of disease through targeted drug delivery of drugs to affected cells.
Earlier this month, the UK's Office of Science and Technology unveiled a £90 million (€129 million) programme of investment in nanotechnology aimed at helping the country's industry to take advantage of commercial opportunities offered by the technology. The UK also commissioned the Royal Society and Royal College of Engineering to conduct a study of the technology and set up an advisory panel to oversee this effort.
The working group will be chaired by Professor Ann Dowling of the University of Cambridge, a specialist in mechanical engineering, and includes experts in ethics, health, the environment and consumer concerns, as well as scientists and engineers whose expertise is in nanotechnology.
The pharmaceutical sciences are represented by Professor Saul Tendler of the University of Nottingham, a specialist in pharmaceutical chemistry, and there are two experts in biological applications of the technology, namely Professor John Ryan of Oxford University and Anthony Seaton of the University of Aberdeen.
A complete list of the members of the working group can be found here.
