A new type of drug delivery vehicle mimics the properties of red blood cells

From the liver to the kidneys to the lungs, the human body is equipped with various levels of filters that protect the body from harmful external substances. However, this system also has its drawbacks. Very important drugs such as chemotherapy and multiple sclerosis treatment are also foreign bodies, so the body filters most of these drugs (up to 90% in some cases).

One way scientists and doctors make up for this is to give the patient a significant amount of medicine. Thus, even if much of the medicine is filtered, it will pass through enough to get the job done. However, higher dose levels also mean more harmful side effects. Another strategy to avoid such high doses is to design vehicles that carry the drug to target specific destinations.

“Many drug delivery vehicles cannot reach the right position in the body, mainly because our body has this very good filtering system. Many of them are in the liver, kidneys, or spleen. We’ll get there, “said Kim Min-kyu. , Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering (link is external) and Biomedical Engineering (link is external). “If we can overcome this by developing a new drug delivery vehicle, it will be a big step forward.”

Kim aims to do just that with the National Science Foundation’s most prestigious $ 600,000 Career Award, which supports faculty members in early careers who may serve as an academic role model for research and education. I am. His plan is to combine materials science, synthetic biology, and multiscale mechanics to develop new forms of drug delivery particulates designed to bypass the body’s filtration system.

“We are very proud to have Mingyu on behalf of MSE among the NSF CAREER winners,” said Sammy Ting, the first Donation Chairman of Materials Science and Engineering, Patrick R. Taylor. “Mingyu’s work at the crossroads of MSE and biomedical engineering is a great example of how materials scientists can directly improve human life.”

Same medicine, new car

How do you get over a system designed to deny outsiders? You impersonate an insider. Kim creates a fine particle vehicle that mimics the properties of red blood cells. These cells are composed of a protein-based casing that carries hemoglobin, a protein that transports oxygen throughout the body. The particles designed by Kim are not the medium of hemoglobin, but the medium of drug particles.

He first uses an established process to contain the drug in the core of the microsphere. Next, add a layer of artificial protein he developed, followed by a lipid bilayer. Taken together, these components mimic red blood cells and even allow controlled release of the drug. It can carry these medicines through a series of biological filters to the part of the body where the medicine is needed.

I rented a red car from a friend as if I had to attend an event that only people driving a red car could enter. I used an authorized car, so I get to where I had to go. Of course, building a protein structure that mimics the properties of red blood cells is much more complicated than renting a car. Red blood cells have some of the most important properties to mimic. For one thing, they can squeeze a very small space and return to their original shape over and over again.

Red blood cells are about 7 micrometers in diameter and pass through much smaller microcapillaries. The cytoskeleton of red blood cells is composed of an ordered structure of proteins. When it is necessary to move in a small space, its structure can be expanded by protein expansion, but when the stress is removed, it returns to its original structure.Red blood cells can do this 1000 times and continue to show the same mechanical behavior.. “

University of Arizona Faculty of Engineering Materials Science Engineering / Biomedical Engineering Assistant Professor Kim Min-kyu

Red blood cells can also stay in the body much longer than a typical drug delivery vehicle.

“Currently, the fate of drug delivery vehicles is up to four weeks,” Kim said. “My goal is for these particles to reach the lifespan of red blood cells, about four months, and I hope they will eventually be even longer.”

Because red blood cells are so effective in moving through the body, some researchers have investigated the possibility of using real red blood cells as a drug medium. However, this requires careful explanation of human blood donations, specific storage methods, and blood types. This vehicle, which Kim plans to create, can be adapted to carry a wide variety of medicines and can be used for patients of all blood types.

“The goal is to develop a universal platform that anyone can get started with and design whatever they want,” Kim said. “You can design the outside. You can design the inside.”

Kim is working with the university’s commercialization arm, Tech Launch Arizona (link is external) to license the technology to companies that can bring it to market. In addition to his research efforts, Kim also plans to develop an interdisciplinary research program for students based on his experience as a faculty member in the two faculties. He creates a new module for undergraduates with a focus on biopolymers, pairing each undergraduate in his lab with a graduate mentor.

He also collaborated with underrated students through collaboration with the University of Arizona’s Keep Engaging Youth in STEM (KEYS) program, the Undergraduate Research Opportunity Consortium (UROC), and Maximizing Access at the National Institutes of Health. We will continue our ongoing efforts to hire. Research Career (MARC) program. A former MARC trainee and 2021 graduate who studied in Kim’s lab, Joselin Rivera was the first Hispanic woman to be accepted into the Oxford-Cambridge Scholarship Program at the National Institutes of Health.

“The NSFCAREER Award is given to young engineers and scientists whose research activities are very likely to have a significant impact,” said Art Gmitro, Head of Biomedical Engineering. “Dr. Kim’s research integrates cutting-edge research in materials science with key clinical applications in improving the delivery of therapeutic agents.”