Officials from London-based developer PlayGen and global nanotechnology consultancy Cientifica have announced the release of a playable demo of NanoMission, an educational serious game that aims to teach players about the concepts of nanoscience through real world practical applications from microelectronics to drug delivery. Developed as an educational game for 12-18 year olds, NanoMission was created by PlayGen with the assistance of outside organizations such as the Royal Society of Chemistry and the National Physical Laboratory to ensure the game meets the educational community requirements. “Working with the scientific community has enabled us to develop NanoMission based on real science rather than science fiction”, notes Kam Memarzia, PlayGen’s managing director adding “We firmly believe computer games have a far greater role to play in today’s society, especially in promoting learning & understanding the real world around us.” Available now from the game's official website, the demo offers a look at NanoMission's first module, nanomedicine, which lets the player to select a suitable vehicle to deliver an anti cancer compound, and then navigate through the bloodstream to the site of the tumor, while avoiding the bodies’ natural defense mechanisms. “Nanomedicine is an area that has caused a great deal of excitement but has also been tragically misrepresented”, commented Cientifica CEO Tim Harper. “the nanomedicie challenge within NanoMission illustrates how nanoscientists are learning from nature to produce viable drug delivery mechanisms for today’s market”