Modern medicine relies on an extensive arsenal of drugs to combat deadly diseases such as pneumonia, tuberculosis, HIV-AIDS and malaria. Chemotherapy agents have prolonged lives for millions of cancer patients, and in some cases, cured the disease or turned it into a chronic condition. But getting those drugs into disease-ridden cells has remained a major...
SKOLKOVO INSTITUTE OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY (SKOLTECH) An international team led by a Skoltech researcher has developed a method of fabrication for biodegradable polymer microcapsules, made more efficient by turning to an unusual source of inspiration – traditional Russian dumpling, or pelmeni, making. The two papers were published in Materials and Design and ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces....
by Fabio Bergamin, ETH Zurich Scheme of the two-step procedure for accumulating and finally releasing encapsulated drugs locally. Researchers at ETH Zurich have developed a method for concentrating and releasing drugs in the brain with pinpoint accuracy. This could make it possible in the future to deliver psychiatric and cancer drugs and other medications only to those...
Nanofluidic device delivered controlled doses HOUSTON METHODIST People with chronic diseases like arthritis, diabetes and heart disease may one day forego the daily regimen of pills and, instead, receive a scheduled dosage of medication through a grape-sized implant that is remotely controlled. Researchers from Houston Methodist successfully delivered continuous, predetermined dosages of two chronic disease medications using...
PORTLAND, Ore. – Researchers at Oregon State University and Oregon Health & Science University have created new nanomaterials able to cross cell membranes, establishing a novel platform for the intracellular delivery of molecular drugs and other cargo. The researchers explored how to tune the size, shape and morphology of materials known as cell-penetrating self-assembling peptide...
Your brain is armored. It lives in a box made of bones with a security system of vessels. These vessels protect the brain and central nervous system from harmful chemicals circulating in the blood. Yet this protection system—known as the blood-brain barrier—also prevents delivery of drugs that could help treat patients with brain cancers and...
A prototype “microspouter” with a Canadian dollar coin for scale When it comes to conditions such as diabetes, which require patients to administer daily injections or take lots of pills, scientists are increasingly looking to drug-dispensing implants as a more convenient alternative. One of the latest such devices, developed at the University of British Columbia, is...
