Delivering drugs deeper

A Princeton University-led research team has developed a process to create particles that can deliver medicine deep into the lungs or infiltrate cancer cells while leaving normal ones alone.

The particles, which are 100 to 300 nanometres wide, can be loaded with medicines or imaging agents, like gold and magnetite, that will enhance the detection capabilities of CT scans and MRIs.

‘The intersection of materials science and chemistry is allowing advances that were never before possible,’ said Robert Prud’homme, a Princeton chemical engineering professor. ‘No one had a good route to incorporate drugs and imaging agents in nanoparticles.’

The new technique, dubbed ‘Flash NanoPrecipitation,’ allows the researchers to mix drugs and materials that encapsulate them. Similar mixing techniques have previously been used to create bulkier pharmaceutical products and have proven practical on a commercial scale. The Princeton-led team is the first to apply the technology to the creation of nanoparticles.