This article offers good perspective on applied nanotechnology in healthcare, which was the subject of a recent conference in NEO...

<>Quantum dots identify sick cells
University of Toronto,
Oct. 27, 2004

University of Toronto professor Warren Chan is developing
quantum dots -- nanoscale semiconductors -- that can target a disease site and
light it up.

By attaching a quantum dot to a molecule that will target
a specific type of cancer, for example, over time, the dots will accumulate in
the tumor and light up in that particular region.

<>This could someday lead to a system that would also use
the quantum dots to bring drug therapies to the disease site.

University of Toronto news release