Concise review: carbon nanotechnology: perspectives in stem cell research

Abstract

Carbon nanotechnology has developed rapidly during the last decade, and carbon allotropes, especially graphene and carbon nanotubes, have already found a wide variety of applications in industry, high-tech fields, biomedicine, and basic science. Electroconductive nanomaterials have attracted great attention from tissue engineers in the design of remotely controlled cell-substrate interfaces. Carbon nanoconstructs are also under extensive investigation by clinical scientists as potential agents in anticancer therapies. Despite the recent progress in human pluripotent stem cell research, only a few attempts to use carbon nanotechnology in the stem cell field have been reported. However, acquired experience with and knowledge of carbon nanomaterials may be efficiently used in the development of future personalized medicine and in tissue engineering.

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes; Graphene; Nanotechnology; Pluripotent stem cells; Tissue engineering.

Figure 1.

Proposed applications of carbon nanomaterials in stem cell research toward future therapies.