Scientific fraud, while not extremely common, is a significant concern within the scientific community. Does the lack of reproducibility point to a greater problem?
Drug delivery to the central nervous system (CNS) is challenging. CNS drugs, for example, that are unable to cross the blood-brain barrier (BBB) cannot be delivered orally or intravenously. Developing drug delivery technologies that can address the specific challenges of delivery to the CNS is a very active area of research. The interaction between drugs and immune cells modulates pharmacodynamics. A new paper from researchers at Keele University explores the interaction between a candidate drug microparticle technology and brain immune cells.
Extracellular vesicles (EVs), including exosomes, can be used therapeutically. Rion, a company spun out of the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, recently began phase II trials to evaluate the use of a powdered formulation of platelet-derived exosomes to treat diabetic foot ulcers.
When discussing 3D Cell Culture, researchers and scientists will talk about collagen, as it is quite popular as a matrix material. Collagen does have limitations as a scaffold though, in a similar way to many other natural scaffold materials, which is one of the reasons why Cell Guidance Systems are offering a fully synthetic alternative – PeptiGels.
