The Use of Viruses in Biomedical Nanotechnology

There is a growing need for medical treatments on the nanoscale in the fields of imaging, vaccine development and targeted drug delivery. Viruses are an ideal platform for these technologies because of their size, structure and ease of genetic or chemical modification. This chapter will highlight the use of viruses to achieve these goals, and will focus on the major contributions of a single member, cowpea mosaic virus. In the pursuit of advancing biomedical nanotechnology, significant contributions have been made to both medicinal applications and the understanding of the viruses themselves.