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Drug Delivery Technology

New Research Moves Closer To Harnessing Viruses To Fight Bacteria And Reduce Antibiotic Use

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Investigational COVID-19 Therapeutics To Be Evaluated In Large Clinical Trials

New research has moved a step closer to harnessing viruses to fight bacterial infection, reducing the threat of antibiotic resistance. The research is published in Cell Host Microbe.  A growing number of infections, including pneumonia, tuberculosis, gonorrhoea, and salmonellosis, are developing antibiotic resistance, which means they becoming harder to treat, resulting in higher death rates, …

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Experimental Gene Therapy Reverses Sickle Cell Disease For Years

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Battling Bent Blood Cells: Progress in Sickle Cell Disease

A study of an investigational gene therapy for sickle cell disease has found that a single dose restored blood cells to their normal shape and eliminated the most serious complication of the disease for at least three years in some patients. Four patients at Columbia University Irving Medical Center/New York-Presbyterian participated in the multicenter study, …

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Shape-Morphing Microrobots Deliver Drugs To Cancer Cells

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Stickers May Save Lives

Chemotherapy successfully treats many forms of cancer, but the side effects can wreak havoc on the rest of the body. Delivering drugs directly to cancer cells could help reduce these unpleasant symptoms. Now, in a proof-of-concept study, researchers reporting in ACS Nano made fish-shaped microrobots that are guided with magnets to cancer cells, where a …

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Going For Gold To Reduce Antibiotic Resistance

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Tiny Surgeon Robots That Can Make Cuts From Within The Body

Tiny particles of gold could be the new weapon in the fight against bacterial antibiotic resistance, according to research recently published in Chemical Science.  Scientists have been investigating the use of gold nanoclusters — each made up of about 25 atoms of gold — to target and disrupt bacterial cells, making them more susceptible to …

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Cells construct living composite polymers for biomedical applications

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Cells construct living composite polymers for biomedical applications

Biomedical engineers at Duke University have demonstrated that a class of interwoven composite materials called semi-interpenetrating polymer networks (sIPNs) can be produced by living cells. The approach could make these versatile materials more biologically compatible for biomedical applications such as time-delayed drug delivery systems. The research appears online on June 8 in the journal Nature …

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Delivering RNA therapies to brain tumors

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Delivering RNA therapies to brain tumors

A combination of nanoparticle packaging and focused ultrasound allowed an RNA therapy to be delivered across the blood-brain barrier in mice. Brain tumors in mice treated using the combination experienced substantial cell death, suggesting its feasibility as a brain cancer therapy Ribonucleic acid, better known as RNA, is a workhorse molecule in the body. Different …

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Scientists discover how to trick cancer cells to consume toxic drugs

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Scientists discover how to trick cancer cells to consume toxic drugs

Research could open the doors for a Trojan horse in cancer therapy Attaching cancer drugs to the protein albumin often improves their uptake by tumors, but this strategy is not always effective and it’s not fully understood. Investigators have found that tumors’ consumption of albumin-bound cancer drugs is controlled by signaling pathways involved in the …

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DNA robots designed in minutes instead of days

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Virus Sized Transistors

New software will allow creation of more complex devices Someday, scientists believe, tiny DNA-based robots and other nanodevices will deliver medicine inside our bodies, detect the presence of deadly pathogens, and help manufacture increasingly smaller electronics. Researchers took a big step toward that future by developing a new tool that can design much more complex …

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Insulin Delivering Nanopill Accepted Into The Emerging Technology Program

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Synthetic Nanobodies Identified That Neutralize SARS-CoV-2

Toraglen, Inc has announced that it’s insulin delivering nanopill technology has been accepted into the FDA’s Emerging Technology Program. The biotechnology company is a preclinical stage company focused on developing proprietary bile acid platforms with the potential to significantly improve drug delivery. “We are encouraged that our technology was well received by the Emerging Technology …

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CRISPR-Based Genome Editing System Destroys Cancer Cells

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Hold On Genetics Cancer Trial Lifted

A team of researchers at Tel Aviv University have demonstrated that CRISPR-Cas9 technology is effective in treating metastatic cancers marking a significant notch on the path to finding a cure. The team uses ‘microscopic scissors’ to pinpoint and eliminate cancerous cells; results of animal tests just published, trial in humans expected within 2 years. A …

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