Explore more about: Drug Delivery Systems

A new synthetic biology toolkit developed at Northwestern Engineering will help researchers design mammalian cells with new functionalities. The toolkit, called the Composable Mammalian Elements of Transcription (COMET), could result in new therapies for difficult-to-treat diseases, like cancer.

After a patient swallows anordinary-looking capsule, the star’s six arms unfold inside the stomach and steadily release ingredients for a week; then the arms break off and leave the body like undigested food. The pill can deliver a variety of prescription medicines.

Promising intracellular protein-based therapeutics have been of limited use due to the difficulty of delivery into diseased cells. Now bioengineers have developed nanoparticles that can deliver these therapeutics to their targets—avoiding degradation and toxic interactions with healthy tissues.

Scientists report they have created a tiny, nanosize container that can slip inside cells and deliver protein-based medicines and gene therapies of any size -- even hefty ones attached to the gene-editing tool called CRISPR.

MIT engineers designed a drug capsule that can carry insulin or other protein drugs and protect them from the harsh environment of the gastrointestinal tract. When the capsule reaches the small intestine, it breaks down to reveal dissolvable microneedles that attach to the intestinal wall and release drug for uptake into the bloodstream.

NIBIB-funded biomedical engineers at the Ohio State University (OSU) have demonstrated a new method for delivering an anti-cancer drug in a study that tested the effect in animal models.

Macrophages are white blood cells that accumulate in tumors, where they aid cancer progression. Now scientists have identified a surface protein found only on the macrophages residing in tumors, exposing a target for precise tumor treatments.

NIBIB-funded researchers use passive cavitation imaging, an ultrasound imaging technique, to create an image and estimate the amount of drug that crossed the blood-brain barrier to reach a specific location in the brain.

NIBIB researchers have designed a nanoparticle that generates radiation-induced oxygen free radicals in the low-oxygen center of tumors, dramatically increasing tumor destruction.

Researchers are one step closer to delivering precise amounts of medication to exact location.