Nanomedicine is at the forefront of modern healthcare. Nanoparticles offer a new platform for drug delivery that can extend the “patent life” of drugs, but also greatly increase the targeting and effectiveness of therapy.

In addition to drug delivery, nanoparticles can also enhance most of the medical imaging modalities, and in some cases offer combined diagnostics and therapy – now called “Theranostics”. Nanotechnology is providing the basis for many of the new regenerative medicine approaches that are based on artificial scaffold structures and it offers solutions for many of the new generation of point-of-care biosensors and some of the advanced gene sequencing instrumentation. There are already early indications of improved healthcare outcomes, and the creation of new business and industry.

However, training in this area is currently falling behind the expansion of knowledge, and there is a developing need to train practitioners in new areas of medical care, business and industry, as well as provide Continuing Professional Development (CPD) for professionals working in this field, giving them access to new opportunities and developments. Without this multidisciplinary approach, the necessary knowledge transfer across the sectors will not occur, and we will not see the patient and healthcare benefits that should technically be possible. The University of Oxford offers an extensive postgraduate CPD programme in nanotechnology and nanomedicine (http://www.conted.ox.ac.uk/nano), drawing on Oxford’s well-established and universally recognized reputation for nanotechnology research and teaching. These flexible, part-time programmes, summer schools and short courses are designed for professionals working across disciplines and industries, and provide insights into the very latest advances in knowledge, skills and techniques in nanotechnology and nanomedicine.

Dr Christiane Norenberg

Dr Christiane Norenberg is Nanotechnology Business Manager at the University of Oxford’s Begbroke Science Park and Course Director of Oxford’s CPD Programme in Nanotechnology and Nanomedicine, delivered by the Department for Continuing Education.