EDITORIAL Is nano too big?

The possibility to utilize nanotechnology for drug develop-ment has led to widespread interest and funding opportunities. The public perception of the field of nanoscale science orig-inally referred to technologies dealing with nanomechanics, nanomaterials, nanooptics and nanoelectronics, but increas-ingly anticipates progress in nanomedicine. Today’s molecu-lar imaging possibilities are ideal for visualizing the pharma-cokinetics of the effectors used in new treatment strategies such as gene therapy [1] and therapeutic vaccination [2]. With the possibility to visualize and the salient, concomitant treat-ment, nuclear medicine has the greatest potential for use in the development of innovative treatment strategies. Consequent-ly, the eventual applications of nanosized tracers are of the greatest interest for our discipline. Nanoparticles can be strictly defined as microscopic particle