Plankton and bacteria inspire drug-delivery development

The Warwick researchers have been able to decorate the hollow structures of vesicles — microscopic polymer-based sacs of liquid — with a variety of nanoparticles that can give them ’stealth’ capabilities, which can avoid the body’s defences while releasing a drug.

Advances in polymerisation have led to a surge in the creation of vesicles made from polymer molecules. Such vesicles have interesting chemical and physical properties that make the hollow structures potential drug-delivery vehicles.

But the University of Warwick team, led by associate professor Stefan Bon, was convinced that even more strength, and interesting tailored properties, could be given to the vesicles if they could add an additional layer of colloidal armour made from a variety of nanoparticles.

One of those armour types was a highly regular packed layer of microscopic polystyrene balls. As a result of the crystalline-like ordered structure of the balls, the researchers could design a vesicle that had an additional and precise permeable reinforced barrier for drug release.