Small is Beautiful

Dear Colleagues,

In 1973 the British economist E. F. Schumacher published a book entitled Small is Beautiful (Blond & Briggs, London). One of the important themes of the book is that scale matters in the development of innovative technology to meet the needs of sustainable human development globally. His book proved to be very influential for a broad spectrum of professionals interested in exploring the promises and challenges to global economic development, and it remains influential today—especially among members of our community. We have strongly embraced this theme in many of the biochemical and microbial technologies that we have developed over the last 30 years, and presently the significance of scale takes on a whole new meaning as we explore the impact of nanoscience and nanotechnology on biotechnological innovation.

Many of our readers, and much of society, tend to see nanotechnology mostly playing out in the world of advanced computing and communication technology. However, this ability to manipulate matter on an atomic and molecular scale that has provided society with smaller and more powerful semiconductors is also catalyzing exciting discoveries in life sciences and generating novel nanoscale biotechnologies. Case in point is the deployment of the single molecule technology of zero-mode waveguides for DNA sequencing, which is the focus of a Catalyzing Innovation feature in this issue from Pacific Biosciences. The ability to confine individual polymerase reactions within nanostructures and to capture the fluorescence light emitted as bases are incorporated into DNA chains has led to the generation of fast and efficient sequence technology that is being deployed to explore a broad spectrum of problems in the life sciences and industrial biotechnology. Real-time single molecule methods such as zero-mode waveguides, atomic force microscopy, and total internal reflection fluorescence microscopy (TIRFM) are providing high temporal and spatial resolution for imaging biochemical processes and driving rapid innovation in biotechnology.

Agriculture is another important sector that nanotechnology will impact, and in this issue of IB we are fortunate to share with our readers some of the exciting research and development activities coming out of the United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) nanotechnology program. A diverse set of projects supported by USDA are featured, including cell-free protein expression from DNA-based hydrogels and the use of silver nanoparticles to elucidate soil dentrification kinetics. I thank Dr. Norman R. Scott of Cornell University and Dr. Hongda Chen from USDA's National Institute for Food and Agriculture for orchestrating this IB IN DEPTH issue. In the future we expect to share with our readers other agricultural nanotechnology applications, such as advanced biosensors and animal drug delivery systems.

The unprecedented capability to build structures and devices from the bottom up to explore fundamental life science questions and to develop novel biotechnologies will continue to drive important innovations for the global bioeconomy. In future IB issues we will return to the nanotechnology theme and examine advances in laboratory-on-a-chip technologies, biosensors, nano-biocatalysts, and novel bioseparation membranes. Yes, small is beautiful and important for addressing challenges to sustainable human development.