This book combines both viewpoints and presents successful applications of nanotechnological constructs in medicine and the science behind the tools. Supramolecular nanometre-sized structures such as nanoparticles or vesicles built out of new synthetic polymeric materials have aroused enormous interest in recent years - both in chemical and pharmaceutical labs as well as in clinical medicine. They promise to be useful for novel or improved diagnostic and therapeutic applications for important diseases such as arteriosclerosis, cancer, infections, or autoimmune disorders. In the first part of this book, renowned researchers provide a detailed insight into both chemical and biological/pharmacological basics that have to be managed for successful applications of these nanostructures in human beings. In the second part, invited authors review the main literature in both diagnostic and therapeutic applications with polymer-based nanostructures that have already reached clinical practice...