MSc Nanobiology

The successful application of Nanobiology will require not simply collaboration between disciplines, but true disciplinary integration of physics and biology.

In the field of Life Sciences, biology and physics are converging. Traditionally, the level of the cell is the domain of biologists and medical researchers. However, physical processes are at work as well on the cell level. Knowledge of physics (on the nano-scale) is essential for a good understanding of these processes, knowledge that biologists and medical researchers typically do not possess. Alternatively, physicists are not acquainted with the behaviour of cells and as a result are not able to interpret physical processes in the cell. To be able to understand the molecular basis of health and disease, knowledge of both physics and (molecular)biology is essential. Nanobiology is the discipline where biology, specifically the basic biology of human health and disease, and nanophysics meet.

The Nanobiology programme of TU Delft and Erasmus MC builds on extensive existing bottom up research collaborations and cooperative mission organizations like Medical Delta. The molecular building blocks of living organisms are the focus and current advances in the nanotechnology toolkit enable the precise visualization, study and control of these biological molecules. Developments in biomedicine, such as studies on human genome variation and the control of stem cells, increasingly require analysis and quantitative description at the fundamental level. Furthermore, it is becoming possible to use the elements of the cell to develop artificial biomolecules and nanoparticles with wide applications in research and medicine. The incorporation of new biological building blocks is highly promising for instance in industrial biotechnology and medical science. These advances will reshape many aspects of medical diagnosis and treatment. The rapid advancement of modern biomedical, biophysical and computational technologies promises to provide new tools to gain in depth knowledge of the fundamental molecular and cellular mechanisms controlling health or involved in disease.

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Study association

In the 2014 academic year, five Nanobiology students established the ‘Hooke’ study association.
Read more about SVNB Hooke: www.hooke.tudelft.nl