Nanobiotechnology
is the convergence of state-of-the-art nanodevice engineering with the
molecular and cellular machinery of living systems. The nanodevices we
are developing and using to explore single-quantum and single-molecule
phenomena have applications ranging from fundamental measurement science
and engineering to biological and medical science. These include the development
of nanomechanical devices for single-molecule biosensing (BioNEMS), applications
of hybrid micro-nano-technology to neurophysiology, and research on real-time
cellular systems biology, as part of an alliance with UCLA and the Seattle-based
Institute for Systems Biology. Ongoing research leading to large scale
integration of nanosystems into functional ensembles is likely to be transformational.