Corking discovery

Scientists have found a way to “cork” infinitesimally small nano test tubes, a development that may lead to a better way of delivering drugs for cancer treatment.

Scientists want to fill the tubes with drugs and inject them into the body, where they will seek diseased or cancerous cells, uncork and deliver their therapeutic contents in the right place.

“After making the nano test tubes, we saw the potential for them to be used for drug delivery vehicles, but because they are open at one end it would be like trying to ship wine in a bottle without a cork,” said University of Florida chemistry professor Charles Martin. “You have to cork it, which is what we have accomplished.”

While chemotherapy works against many cancers, it can cause severe side effects such as nausea, temporary hair loss and blood disease. To make the chemo hit only the cancerous cells, Martin and scientists elsewhere have spent recent years experimenting with drug-carrying nanotubes or nanoparticles.