Drug Delivery & Dispensing

A “smart insulin patch” created by researchers at the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University detects increases in blood sugar levels and secretes doses of insulin into the bloodstream whenever needed.

Researchers from North Carolina State University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill have developed an elastic patch that, when applied to the skin and stretched, delivers medicine. The patch releases the drugs as the elbow bends.

Researchers at the University of Delaware have received a $1 million grant from the W.M. Keck Foundation to develop new nanostructures that act like a ratchet, combining the energy of two red photons of light into a single, higher-energy blue photon. The light-changing technology could improve solar...

A smart hydrogel coating from Georgia Institute of Technology creates “stick-slip” control of capillary action. By placing the material inside of glass microtubes, capillary forces are altered and draw water differently. The researchers' discovery could provide a new way to control microfluidic...

Using misting technology found in household humidifiers, University of Illinois chemists developed a new method to create silicone microspheres. The tiny spheres could have applications in targeted medicine and imaging.

Researchers at the University of Georgia have found a low-cost way to manufacture extraordinarily thin polymer strings. The nanofibers can be used to create advanced wound dressings, regenerate tissue, and deliver drugs directly to the site of an infection.

Using nanowires, Purdue University researchers has created a new implantable drug-delivery system that can be wirelessly controlled. The nanowires respond to an electromagnetic field generated by a separate device, which can be used to release a pre-loaded drug. The engineering team says that...

A microfluidic device called the Cluster-Chip, developed by a team of scientists at Massachusetts General Hospital, is the first designed specifically to capture clusters of two or more rare circulating tumor cells (CTCs), rather than single cells. The ability to isolate intact clusters, they say, can enable...

Researchers at Michigan Technological University, Houghton, recently acquired a 3D bioprinter with which they plan to “print” synthesized nerve tissue. The key, they say, is developing the right “bioink” or printable tissue. One of the team member’s research on cellulose nanocrystals as...

Implanted biomedical devices used for drug delivery, tissue engineering, or sensing can help improve disease treatment. But, often these devices are susceptible to attack by the immune system. To help reduce that immune-system rejection, a team of scientists at Massachusetts Institute of Technology,...

Current hearing-loss treatments deliver drugs to the middle ear by requiring repeat injections. A device from The Charles Stark Draper Laboratory, Cambridge, MA, sends precise, automated, and timed quantities of one or more drugs directly into the fluid of the inner ear.

This invention places a drug delivery system inside a prosthetic implant to circumvent the physical issues encountered after fitting the implant. Implants being relatively large in size would be able to house the drug-carrying device inside them without compromising the structural integrity or the...

Engineers at Oregon State University have used additive manufacturing to create an improved glucose sensor for Type 1 diabetes patients. Matched with portable infusion pumps, the new system monitors blood glucose concentrations, delivers insulin, and maintains safe hormone levels.

According to a recent study by the University of Georgia College of Family and Consumer Sciences, bioplastics made from protein sources have shown significant antibacterial properties. The materials could be used in medical applications, such as wound healing dressings, sutures, catheter tubes, and...

AAMI, the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation, is leading the small-bore connectors initiative, an international effort to decrease tubing misconnections and increase patient safety. Recently, AAMI has released two additional standards focusing on how to design connectors...

Researchers at MIT have developed a method to stimulate brain tissue using external magnetic fields and injected magnetic nanoparticles. The technique allows direct stimulation of neurons, which could be an effective treatment for a variety of neurological diseases, without the need for...

Misconnections of tubing pose a significant threat to patient safety. Accidental misconnection of different delivery systems—through which patients receive medication, nutrients, and other fluids—can result in serious patient harm, or even death. Several organizations, including the Association...

Caltech chemists have produced a group of silicon-containing organic chemicals. The resulting organic molecules could serve as powerful chemical building blocks for medicinal chemists to use in the creation of new pharmaceuticals.

A team of chemists at The Scripps Research Institute (TSRI), La Jolla, CA, say that they have invented a new method to join complex organic molecules that is extraordinarily robust and can be used to make plastics, pharmaceuticals, fabrics, dyes, and other materials previously inaccessible to chemists.

A team of engineers at Penn State, University Park, PA, is using squid to create an eco-friendly thermoplastic that can be used in 3D printing. Most plastics are made from fossil fuel sources or from synthetic oils. Thermoplastics can melt, be formed, and then solidify without degrading materials properties....