Nanoscience and nanotechnology have become spread fields worldwide because nanomaterials offer novel and unique properties. The properties at the nanoscale are dependent on the size, the shape, and the components. There are a variety of nanoparticle systems currently investigated and explored for biomedical applications with some particular emphasis on cancer therapeutics; hence some precious metal (mainly gold and silver systems) and some magnetic oxides (in particular magnetite Fe₃O₄) received much interest including quantum dots as well as what is called “natural nanoparticles.”

Various chemical routes have been reported for the synthesis and surface functionalization by the attachment of specific biomolecules. Considerable efforts have been devoted to the optical properties and biomedical applications of noble metal nanoparticles with various sizes, desirable shapes (nanospheres, nanorods, nanoshells, etc.), different structures, and hence tunable plasmonic properties.

In this special issue, the authors cordially invite investigators to submit articles that describe the latest techniques in nanomaterials synthesis, characterization, and biomedical applications.

Potential topics include, but are not limited to:

• Recent development in nanomaterial synthetic methods, in particular magnetic nanoparticles
• Gold nanoparticles
• Latest development in nanoparticle coating/core-shell
• Nanoparticle surface modification
• Role of nanomaterials in cancer treatment
• Identifying the mechanism of cell penetration of the nanomaterials
• Recent development in using nanomaterials in photokilling of bacteria and so on

Before submission authors should carefully read over the journal's Author Guidelines, which are located at http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jnm/guidelines/. Prospective authors should submit an electronic copy of their complete manuscript through the journal Manuscript Tracking System at http://mts.hindawi.com/author/submit/journals/jnm/nbap/ according to the following timetable: