Nanomaterials are being investigated for a vast variety of biomedical
applications such as drug delivery, biosensors, tissue engineering, bioimaging etc. Most
of the approaches utilize nano-scale biomaterials for developing unique functionalities
required by fabricating biomedical devices. During the past few decades,
photodynamic therapy (PDT) has been developed as an upcoming therapy for the
treatment of various life threatening diseases such as cancer and some common
bacterial infections. It is based on the photochemical reactions between light and
tumour tissue generated using photosensitizing agents. The present chapter focuses on
the various materials developed as photodynamic therapeutic agents and their future
prospects.
Keywords: Bioimaging, Dendrimers, Nanomaterials, Photochemical reaction,
Photodynamic therapy, Polymers, Polymeric nanoparticles, Quantum dots, Singlet
oxygen.
