The EPSRC nanotechnology image library

Image by Giuseppe Battaglia - University of Sheffield, UK

Research is being carried out into effective ways of delivering drugs to where they are needed within the human body. Because some of these drugs - particularly those designed to target cancers - are highly toxic, the objective is to create a device which can safely convey and deliver a drug payload to where it's needed, before the body's natural defences have a chance to destroy it.

One avenue of research in this field is the creation of vesicles (polymeric assemblies) that are engineered to make them able to target specific biological sites and to change their morphology upon environmental changes such as temperature, or pH. The AFM image shown here depicts one such vesicle.

More information about this area of research maybe found by viewing the "Drug Delivery" movie on our video page.

This image is also available for download in the following formats:

• Image format = JPEG; physical size = 1280x1457 pixels; file size = 820 KB : DOWNLOAD

 

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 3.0 License. All image post-treatments by Andy Eccleston.