Researchers have developed a faster, cheaper way to coat liquid medication, an invention that could improve how drugs are delivered in the body.
The new encapsulation technology, developed by engineers at the University of Waterloo, uses gravity and other natural forces to wrap drops as they fall through a thin layer of liquid shell floating on a base liquid.
Once hardened, or cured, by exposure to ultraviolet light, the shell houses and protects the liquid core inside.
“It is a very simple technique that requires almost no energy – and it is extremely rapid,” said Sushanta Mitra, executive director of the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology. “Encapsulation takes place in milliseconds.”
Read more at University of Waterloo
Photo: PhD student Sirshendu Misra. CREDIT: Brian Caldwell