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Fran Scott from the ´óÏó´«Ã½ series ‘The Imagineers’ describes how Dr Eleanor Stride from the University of Oxford is working on using nano-bubbles to deliver drugs to specific parts of the human body. Dr Stride explains that cancer drugs are poisonous and have many side effects. Her research uses microscopic bubbles of gas coated with a special shell containing these drugs which are then injected into the patient’s blood.

These bubbles contain magnetic particles and so can be moved around the body using magnets. Ultrasound monitors where they are and then is used to pop them delivering the drug to its target cells. More than half of the drugs we develop are too poisonous to work. Using nano-bubbles means a much smaller dose is required and so this technology may allow us to use more drugs in the future.