Using ultrasound to facilitate the delivery of drugs to biological cells Seminar

One of the major obstacles in early-stage drug discovery is the hindered delivery of therapeutic drugs to their intended intracellular target. This is largely due to the semi-permeable nature of biological membranes, allowing entry of only selective molecules. However, in fluidic systems, ultrasonic standing waves can be used to generate small pores in biological membranes, a phenomenon known as sonoporation. We have shown that sonoporation can facilitate the uptake of therapeutic drugs without inflicting irreversible damage on biological cells. These finding provide a useful laboratory based, early-stage drug screening methodology and which, does not require animal experiments.