Just a Spoonful of Sugar...
Wouldn't it be great if a strawberry malt was as healthy as a cup of steamed veggies? It could happen. Dr. David Weitz at Harvard University is developing a self-assembling nanoscale capsules called "colloidosomes" that could deliver nutrients, medicine, even tastes at a set time.
The capsules, called "colloidosomes," are made of tiny particles just one-tenth the size of a human cell, that assemble themselves into a hollow, sturdy, elastic shell with holes. "We fabricate colloidosomes by taking small drops of water and immersing them in another fluid which has little particles in it. And the particles… stick to the surface of the water drop, and then we heat them up slightly to make a solid shell of particles around the water drop," Weitz explains.
"By controlling the way we produce the little particles, we can adjust the little holes in the shell that allow small molecules to go in and out of this capsule." By adjusting the size of the holes they would be able to control how long it would take for the drug or nutrient inside to escape, "so we could control the release of these nutrients," he says.
Don't miss the story with video at ScienCentral News.