Friday, April 10, 2009

Virus-size pills to deliver drugs

Scientists have devised a way to make tiny containers about the size of a virus that can deliver medicines to targeted cells in the bloodstream with almost 100% efficiency. The breakthrough achieved by a collaborative team of Cornell and Shenzhen University researchers gives new hope that this technique may one day be used to deliver vaccines, drugs or genetic material to treat cancer and blood and immunological disorders. “We can introduce just about any drug or genetic material that can be encapsulated, and it is delivered to any circulating cells that are specifically targeted, “said Michael King, Cornell associate professor of biomedical engineering, who co-authored the study with lead author Zhong Huang, a former Cornell research associate who is now an assistant professor at the Scenzhen University School of Medicine in China.

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