Drug delivery

EPFL scientists have demonstrated a new method to make immunotherapy more effective and directed against cancer. The team designed microparticles containing drugs that are only released when T cells physically squeeze them, on contact with cancer.

One of the problems with gradual-release medications lies in the fact that the pills often pass through the body before all of the medication has been released. An experimental new technology addresses that problem, by copying an intestinal parasite.

Chemotherapy remains one of our best treatments against cancer but, frustratingly, cancer cells can develop resistance to these drugs. Now, researchers have found that calcium can weaken their defense mechanism, making drugs effective once more.

Scientists at Purdue University have developed a back-flipping microbot that can tumble its way through the colon to release its payload when desired, all while being controlled externally by a magnetic field.

However useful a drug may be, it’s a problem if it has adverse effects on healthy cells. Now researchers have shown a way to keep drugs on target, by wrapping them in a transport that can only be unlocked by a certain RNA sequence unique to cancer.

One day microscopic robots could be crawling through your body, clearing out disease or delivering drugs. And now we’re one step closer to that future, as scientists from Cornell University have created tiny robots powered by pulses of laser light.

Derived from living organisms, biologic drugs show a lot of promise. They're often difficult to inject through the skin, though, which is where a new hypodermic needle is designed to come in.

New research carried out in Singapore demonstrates how magnets can be used to pinch and apply pressure to the skin, which opens up additional pathways for drugs such as insulin to enter the body in safer, more efficient ways.

Given how compounds like flavoring dissipate out of gum as it's being chewed, scientists are looking into the controlled oral delivery of drugs via medicated gum. A robot is being designed with that in mind, as a way of standardizing the chew test.

Researchers at Harvard have developed a new platform for producing vaccines. Red blood cells are loaded with antigens to generate a specific immune response, and in tests in mice the team showed that it was effective in slowing the growth of cancer.

In future, many diseases may be treated by tiny robots delivering drugs. Taking inspiration from white blood cells, researchers from the Max Planck Institute have unveiled a new micro-robot design that can move against the current of blood flow.

A breakthrough from an international team of researchers raises hopes of a new, targeted approach to regenerative medicine, demonstrating how violet light can be used to switch on a drug and promote growth in highly selective areas.