Liposome-hydrogel hybrids: No toil, no trouble for stronger bubbles
People have been combining materials to bring forth the best properties of both ever since copper and tin were merged to start the Bronze Age. In the latest successful merger, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST), the University of Maryland (UM) and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) have developed a method to combine two substances that individually have generated interest for their potential biomedical applications: a phospholipid membrane 'bubble' called a liposome and particles of hydrogel, a water-filled network of polymer chains. The combination forms a hybrid nanoscale (billionth of a metre) particle that may one day travel directly to specific cells such as tumours, pass easily though the target's cell membrane, and then slowly release a drug payload...