What are bionanosciences?

Bio Nanosciences are developed in the link between nanotechnology and biology in order to understand life at its fundamental level and imitate or take advantage of biological phenomena for other nanotechnology applications. 

Biological systems are organized in hierarchical structures, ranging from organelles to living organisms to different types of cells and tissues. All of these structures are generated, maintained, and function by molecular interactions and phenomena that occur at the nanoscale; that is, in regions with sizes ranging from a few to a few tens of nanometers. A nanometer (nm) is one millionth of 1 millimeter. These phenomena include, for example, biomolecule binding/association, conformational changes, diffusion, transport, chemical reactions, and catalysis. Elucidating the mechanisms of life and disease at their deepest level requires tools to visualize structures and analyze these phenomena at the nanoscale and in the cellular environment.

Research in bionanosciences is by nature interdisciplinary. They involve knowledge of biology, chemistry, biochemistry, physics and computing, among others. Activities include experimental research (imaging, molecular design and synthesis, protein engineering, molecular self-assembly, spectroscopies), theoretical research (statistical mechanics, nanomechanics, transport, quantum) and computational research (multiscale simulation, first principles methods, Monte Carlo simulations), among others.

The understanding of biological phenomena at the molecular and nanometric level contains the keys to the functioning of life and the generation, diagnosis and treatment of diseases. Likewise, life has developed highly efficient mechanisms over millions of years of evolution. Understanding them allows the development of other nanosystems that mimic or take advantage of biological phenomena for other applications.

At CIBION we work on the development and application of methods for the visualization and analysis of biological phenomena at the nanoscale in collaboration with other research institutes in biology, medicine, and biomedicine. The objective is to advance in the understanding and solution of biological and health problems.