Nanoparticle orientation offers a way to enhance drug delivery

Date posted
Funding Agency
(Funded by the National Institutes of Health)

MIT engineers have shown that they can enhance the performance of drug-delivery nanoparticles by controlling a trait of chemical structures known as chirality—the "handedness" of the structure. The MIT team found that coating nanoparticles with the right-handed form of the amino acid cysteine helped the particles to avoid being destroyed by enzymes in the body. This finding could help researchers to design more effective carriers for drugs to treat cancer.