Canadians swallow millions of pills every day to treat common health issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol and Type II diabetes, but scientists are working at the molecular level to turn patients’ cells into pharmacies.

Nanotechnology, where atoms and molecules are manipulated on a tiny scale — a billion times smaller than a metre — is already incorporated into everyday products like sunscreen, waterproof clothing and smartphones.

In nanomedicine, it’s being used to prompt RNA to make protein-based drugs to treat diseases. Now we can fine-tune protein production by dialling it up or down, creating personalized medicine on an invisible scale.

Protein production and health

The human body is a precision instrument, and its smooth operation relies on the balance of proteins like keratin, which creates structure for your hair and nails, and collagen, which gives your skin its strength and elasticity.

Factor VIII is a clotting protein that acts like molecular glue at wound sites, and if your body doesn’t make enough of it — like people with Hemophilia A — a seemingly small injury can cause dangerous bleeding. Conversely, if you make too much of apolipoprotein C3 (ApoC3), it blocks the breakdown of fats in the blood called triglycerides, and these high lipid levels increase the risk of pancreatitis, heart disease and stroke.

The body maintains this delicate protein balance through an elegant molecular system, one that nanomedicine is now learning to control.

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