The American Academy of Nanomedicine is an international society created to advance research and clinical applications in the field of nanomedicine. The organization represents basic and clinical investigators, engineers, molecular biologists, physicians, and others with an interest in the field.

"The academy will provide a link between the academic research communities in the field of nanomedicine and help foster better communication," says Dr. Chiming Wei, director of the Cardiothoracic-Renal Molecular Research Program at Baltimore's John Hopkins University School of Medicine, who led the steering committee spearheading the Academy's launch.

Nanomedicine refers to highly specific medical intervention at the molecular scale for curing disease or repairing damaged tissues such as bone, muscle, or nerve. Too small to be seen with a conventional lab microscope, a nanometer is one-billionth of a meter. Nanomedicine uses molecular machine systems to address medical problems, and uses molecular knowledge to maintain and improve human health at the molecular scale.

According to developers of the new society, the field of nanomedicine has far-reaching medical implications-to help define disease, diagnose and treat medical conditions including aging, and ultimately to improve and extend natural human biological structure and function.