Physicists design ‘super-human’ red blood cells to deliver drugs to specific targets

Science Daily  January 16, 2020
An international team of researchers (Canada, Germany) has developed a method to combine synthetic material with biological material and created a new structure. They opened the red blood cell, modified its outer cell wall, and replaced its contents with a drug molecule, which would then be injected back into the body. The hybrid appears and behaves as a normal red blood cell but has a sticky surface which can attach itself to bacteria, for example, open and release antibiotics exactly where they are needed. This targeted delivery method could help to minimize dosages and therefore, potential side effects. This is particularly important for very potent drugs used in cancer and Alzheimer’s disease, and the treatment of infections of potentially resistant bacteria…read more. TECHNICAL ARTICLE