Cleaning out pollen shells
Wednesday, July 11, 2018 - 10:44
in Biology & Nature
As allergy season intensifies, many people are cursing pollen—the powdery substance released by plants for reproduction. However, pollen may serve a purpose beyond making new plants and triggering sneezes. In ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, researchers report a new method for cleaning out the insides of pollen grains so that the non-allergenic shells can be used to carry medicines or vaccines into the human body.