All articles tagged with #drug delivery
Researchers at the University at Buffalo developed an injectable hydrogel that transitions to a lubricating semisolid depot inside the joint, releasing drug-loaded nanocarriers over weeks to extend treatment duration for osteoarthritis while potentially reducing injections and limiting systemic exposure.
Spider silk is guiding the development of new medical materials. Researchers extract silk genes and produce engineered silk proteins in microbes to create particles, gels, fibers, and 3D-printed scaffolds for drug delivery and tissue repair. These silk-based systems can biodegrade and release medicines over time, while providing biocompatible scaffolds that support cell growth and healing, with applications ranging from wound coverings to bone regeneration. The process leverages room‑temperature, water-based manufacturing that contrasts with traditional synthetic fibers.
UNC-Chapel Hill researchers are developing a light-activated drug-delivery system that confines potent cancer medications to tumor sites, aiming to reduce damage to healthy tissue and long-term side effects while moving toward clinical testing.
The first FDA-approved engineered biologic that can cross the blood–brain barrier marks a milestone in CNS drug delivery, as researchers accelerate brain-shuttle approaches to ferry large-molecule therapies into the brain for potential treatments of neurological diseases.
Researchers at Oregon State University used mannose-cholesterol coated lipid nanoparticles to cross the blood–brain barrier and deliver tumor-suppressing PTEN mRNA to glioblastoma in mice, greatly reducing tumor burden and extending survival without detectable organ toxicity. While promising, the results are preclinical and in animals, but the approach could become a general platform for brain-targeted mRNA therapies and other neurological applications.
UC Boulder researchers have developed a slow-release injectable therapy that prompts joint cells to repair cartilage and bone, reversing osteoarthritis in animal models within weeks. They’ve completed the first phase of experiments and are moving to safety/toxicity studies to enable human trials—potentially within 18 months—funded by ARPA-H’s NITRO program, as they pursue options beyond pain management and joint replacement.
Researchers used semen-derived exosomes from pig semen to deliver a chemotherapy-like payload to the retina in a mouse model of retinoblastoma, via eye drops. The approach successfully reached the back of the eye and reduced tumor size after 30 days, suggesting a potential noninvasive treatment route for this pediatric eye cancer, though safety and effectiveness in humans remain to be tested in trials.
Scientists are turning DNA into programmable nanomachines that can move, sense, and deliver therapies, using DNA origami and strand displacement to create DNA robots that could autonomously seek out cancer cells or viruses in the bloodstream; while early demonstrations show targeted drug delivery and precise nanoparticle placement, major challenges remain in controlling motion, ensuring stability in the body, and scaling production for real-world medical use.
Researchers at Kumamoto University developed a cyclic DNP peptide that enables insulin to cross the intestinal barrier, achieving about 33–41% oral bioavailability in diabetic mouse models. They demonstrated two approaches—a mixing method where the peptide interacts with zinc-stabilized insulin hexamers, and a covalent DNP–insulin conjugate created via click chemistry—both producing effective glucose lowering. Once-daily dosing maintained normal glycemia for three days, marking a significant step toward practical oral insulin and potentially reducing injectable insulin needs; translational studies in larger animals and human intestinal systems are planned.
Two independent labs—UC Berkeley and Technion—used Pink Floyd’s 'Another Brick in the Wall, Part 1' as a test stimulus to probe brain activity and delivery science: Berkeley reconstructed the song from intracranial recordings, while Technion showed that low-frequency sound can influence cellular uptake and gene expression in neurons and mice via lipid nanoparticles, with fMRI showing brain activation in humans. The shared choice of a bass-heavy track underscores bass as a meaningful signal, but the work is exploratory, not therapeutic, with translational questions and limited quantitative data remaining.
Researchers are investigating how cancer uses extracellular vesicles to colonize new organs and are creating artificial liposomes that mimic these vesicles to observe uptake by cancer cells in real time, with the goal of delivering targeted therapies and ultimately blocking metastasis while improving drug delivery.
A new implant called TAR-200 has shown promising results in a phase 2 trial, eliminating tumors in 82% of high-risk bladder cancer patients resistant to previous treatments, with most tumors disappearing within three months and many patients remaining cancer-free after a year, offering a potentially safer and more effective alternative to traditional therapies.
LaMar Cook, a former deputy director for the governor’s regional office in Springfield, was arraigned on charges of cocaine trafficking, gun possession without a license, and driving without a license after receiving a large drug delivery at the state building.
A study from Texas Tech found that the blood-brain barrier remains largely intact in a common mouse model of Alzheimer's, challenging previous beliefs that the disease causes widespread BBB leakiness, which has implications for drug delivery strategies.
Cambridge researchers have developed a pH-sensitive gel that can detect inflammation in joints and release anti-inflammatory drugs precisely where needed, potentially revolutionizing arthritis treatment by reducing side effects and improving efficacy, though clinical trials are still required.