Researchers at Georgia State University and Georgia Institute of Technology have devised a method to boost the efficacy of a traditional influenza vaccine. The team combined a fusion protein into a microneedle patch made from a biocompatible polymer. The patch’s needles are biodegradable, releasing vaccine into the skin as they dissolve. Mice receiving a conventional […]
Dissolvable microneedle patch for flu vaccine succeeds in Phase I
Dissolvable microneedle patches that deliver the flu vaccine could provide a safe and cost-effective alternative to traditional immunization methods, according to the results from a Phase I trial published in The Lancet this week. The study enrolled adults ages 18 to 49 and randomly assigned them to receive a single dose of inactivated flu vaccine via […]
Magnets, nanoparticles open and close blood vessels for targeted drug delivery
Tightly-packed endothelial cells line blood vessels and maintain a highly structured barrier. But researchers from Rice University, Emory University and the Georgia Institute of Technology have found a way to selectively create “leaky” blood vessels for targeted drug delivery. The team’s study, which was published in Nature Communications, reported that magnets can help lead iron-oxide nanoparticles […]
Hydrogel tech boosts success of transplanted insulin-producing cells
A hydrogel material embedded with a protein to improve blood vessel growth may boost the success rate of transplanting insulin-producing islet cells into patients with Type I diabetes, according to a preclinical study published in the journal Science Advances. In the newly-published work, supported by the National Institutes of Health and the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, […]
Researchers stunt growth of ovarian cancer with nanohydrogels
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a targeted therapy using nanohydrogels to stunt the growth of ovarian tumors in in vivo tests in mice, according to a new study. The nanohydrogel is a gel pellet that researchers can load with RNA to carry into cancer cells and knock down a particular protein. “The dramatic […]
