Make a bigger box
Nanocages are small man-made containers that can be used to deliver drugs to the desired sites in the body. But some drug molecules seem like a big gift for a standard nanocage “box”. Now, in a paper published today in Nature Synthesis, researchers from Nitschke’s group describe how they built a large nanocage (A large nanocage can deliver large drug loads) that can be used to deliver large drug loads. They built a bigger box.
Simple building blocks
The rational integration of self-organization of the rational, macro and spatial forms of integration often poses a challenge. Therefore, instead of following a traditional personal approach, Using the new method, they were able to build increasingly complex nanocages, with large chambers measuring more than 92 cubic nanometers – the largest internal space with a ligand ever created.
Larger cells have been reported, but they have more open ligand frames, which are not useful as these cells cannot bind to weight. The “guest” cells can fit between the hollow bars if they are attached to the “guest” frame.
First author Dr Kai Wu
First author Kai Wu, a postdoctoral researcher in Nitschke’s laboratory, said: “The results of this study are important because they demonstrate how we can create complex functional structures from using building blocks.
The load is too big
Larger nanocages have potential applications in areas such as drug delivery and biotechnology, where they can be used to deliver larger therapeutic biomolecules to the body.
The researchers also said that the large space inside the nanocages can be a platform for attaching large biomolecules, such as hydrophobic membrane proteins or proteases, which can be useful in drug discovery and development.
Wu said: “Overall, this research expands our understanding of how to create nanoscale materials and can have beneficial effects in various fields.”
Professor Jonathan Nitschke, who led the research, said: “This work, supported in part by Astex Pharmaceuticals as part of the Sustaining Innovation postdoctoral program, aims to have a real impact on the field of pharmaceutical innovation.
Source: University of Cambridge
