“ We ’ re using extremely small particles to help us find innovative strategies to address pressing health issues around the world .”
— BRIAN LUK , M . S . ’ 14
DRUGS ON TARGET
When it comes to nanomedicine , one of the main goals is targeted drug delivery — directing drugs to only diseased sites , rather than spreading the drugs to healthy areas throughout the body . This is especially important for diseases like cancer and severe bacterial infections , “ which are typically treated with very toxic drugs ,” says Brian Luk , M . S . ’ 14 , a bioengineering graduate student in Zhang ’ s nanomedicine lab . “ You don ’ t want these types of drugs being distributed all over your body , just to the problem areas .”
Luk , who was named one of the 2016 Siebel Scholars at UC San Diego , works with Zhang to develop new nanoparticles to treat not only cancer and bacterial infections , but a variety of autoimmune and cardiovascular diseases . In a particularly “ fantastic ” research study , the team created nanoparticles disguised as human platelets so that they might better navigate through a human body .
The nanoparticles are essentially tiny spheres , packed with drugs and covered with the cell membranes of real human platelets . This coating naturally protects the nanoparticles from being recognized as foreign agents and from being attacked by the body ’ s immune system . The platelet membranes also have a natural preference to bind to damaged blood vessels and pathogens such as MRSA bacteria , making them not only useful as a cloaking device , but also as a homing device for problem areas .
Tests on rodents have been remarkably positive . In one experiment , researchers packed the nanoparticles with drugs to treat blood vessel injuries and injected them into rats with damaged arteries . The drugs primarily ended up on the artery wounds and healed them . Likewise , antibiotic-filled nanoparticles were injected into MRSA-infected mice and found their way right to the infected organs . Researchers found that they were able to use just onesixth of the clinical dose of antibiotics to kill off the infection .
“ With our platform , we are basically concentrating the antibiotics on the MRSA infection so we can introduce less total drug into the body while still maintaining the drug ’ s efficacy ,” says Luk . “ We ’ re using extremely small particles to help us find innovative strategies to address pressing health issues around the world .”
Just another way the smallest things can make the biggest difference .
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THE LIGHTER SIDE OF MEDICINE
BY SCOTT LAFEE
One of the key benefits in nanomedicine is precision . And when dealing with medicines that are often as volatile as the conditions they treat , a little precision goes a long way .
Where other research focuses on the targeted delivery of medicine , the work of Adah Almutairi , Ph . D ., associate professor and director of the Center for Excellence in Nanomedicine and Engineering at UC San Diego , focuses on controlling the dosage of those drugs once they ’ re in the right spot .
The process is elegant in its simplicity : drugs are packed into nanoparticles made from a biodegradable polymer and delivered to a targeted part of the body — a tumor , for example .
Technicians ( life-sized , mind you ) then use a low-power laser emitting near-infrared light to heat water molecules inside the particles , softening the polymer and releasing the drug into surrounding tissue . Not only is the process painless and repeatable , but physicians can control the amount and rate of dispersal of the drug .
If the scale of Almutairi ’ s work is miniscule , the scope of her interest is not . The principle of the new method “ could be applied anywhere requiring that chemistry be controlled in time and in space .” says Almutairi . That might range from light-activated sunscreens and pesticides to novel , self-repairing materials .
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