Biotechnology and telecommunications turned San Diego County into a world-renowned tech powerhouse. Now a group of local biotech professionals called NanoBioNexus plans to add another element into the mix: nanotechnology, the emerging field of manufacturing from the atom up.

NanoBioNexus aims to mix nanotechnology with biotechnology, defined as manufacturing through life processes. The intended result: a super-biotechnology that can reach into the body to diagnose and treat diseases with precision never before possible.

On the business side, this technology -- which focuses on constructing molecular machinery by manipulating individual atoms to make microscopic devices -- could give rise to multibillion-dollar companies employing thousands of people.

"The time is coming for this, and San Diego is just a great place to do it," said Greg Arnold, a partner in the Rancho Santa Fe financial advisory firm Carmel Canyon Partners, LLC. "San Diego has not only the fastest-growing, but the best biotech cluster in the United States, possibly the world."

In addition to San Diego's biotech strength, UC San Diego has become a major hub of nanotech research, said Arnold, a member of the group's advisory board.

Two UCSD researchers and members of the NanoBioNexus advisory board have become famous for their work. They are Sangeeta Bhatia, an associate professor in the department of bioengineering, and Michael Sailor, a professor in the department of chemistry and biochemistry.

Sailor has developed minute sensors and so-called "smart dust," specks of silicon that can be used to detect certain chemicals. Bhatia heads a team that has coaxed liver cells to grow outside the body on specially designed silicon chips.

But these steps are just the beginning of what nanotechnology enthusiasts see ahead, such as diagnosing and treating diseases at the cellular level. Cancer cells could be targeted and destroyed individually by precisely designed drugs, leaving normal cells unscathed. In more far-fetched scenarios, diseases caused by genetic defects could be cured by repairing the defect with molecular robots, possibly including the genetic damage caused by aging.

NanoBioNexus hopes to catalyze these advances by bringing together scientists and nanotech and biotech investors, said Adriana Vela, founder and chairwoman of the group. The group's Web site is at (www.nanobionexus.org). Vela helped organize a similar group in Silicon Valley, NanoBioConvergence, before moving to San Diego to form NanoBioNexus.

Nanotechnology was predicted more than 40 years ago in a speech by the late physicist Richard Feynman. It was first popularized in a 1986 book by K. Eric Drexler, who received the world's first doctorate in molecular nanotechnology from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

San Diego County companies performing nanotechnology work include Invitrogen Corp. in Carlsbad as well as Nanogen Inc., Illumina Inc., and MagneSensors Inc., said Philip D. Reilly, a member of NanoBioNexus' advisory board.

Reilly is an associate in the Palo Alto office of Morrison & Foerster, a law firm with a large life science practice and a growing interest in nanotechnology. The firm is a founding sponsor of the group, providing pro bono legal assistance and funding, Reilly said. Morrison & Foerster has a local office in Carmel Valley.

"Nanotechnology as it applies to the life sciences is still at a nascent stage," Reilly said. "But we believe it's going to be a large segment of the industry in the future. San Diego has a very strong life science community and has been attracting a lot of funding in the nanotech area."

Contact staff writer Bradley J. Fikes at bfikes@nctimes.com or (760) 739-6641.